Tying The Knot
by SilverDawn2010
Summary: Marriage. Fatherhood. Those two words went against the freedom Sonic had always lived for... but love changes everything. But that's not to say that love won't be tried and tested, from without and within...
1. Up to Speed

Tying the Knot

The Sequel to "Passion"

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Chapter 1: Up To Speed

* * *

"Can I help you, sir?"

Not used to being referred to so formally, the blue hedgehog ignored the voice and merely did another scan of the diamond studded rings sitting in front of him behind a glass case, their sparkles and shimmers overwhelming his jade eyes. It was fair to say that Sonic felt very much out of place here; this wasn't a store that he frequented very often. Well, that wasn't_ exactly_ true... his feet had brought him to this one shop quite a bit, albeit only recently.

"Sir?"

Finally, his eyes snapped upwards, almost blinded by the bright lights in the jewelry store designed to make the diamonds sparkle even more. Feeling a bit dizzy, Sonic mumbled, "Huh?"

"Can I help you find something?" the otter clerk asked him, her purplish eyes wide.

"Uh..." Sonic clenched and unclenched his fists, doing another visual survey of the rings, his stomach flip flopping at the thought... "I'm good..." he breathed and took off out of the store without a second glance.

And that made it the _third_ time this week that Sonic's feet had brought him to this particular jewelry store and he'd looked at the engagement rings. It didn't help that it was located so close to Amy's house, in a strip mall next to the neighborhood grocery store. And every time he'd stop there, he told himself, _'today you're **going** to suck it up and buy the ring._' But still... he'd just look at the diamond rings, think, consider... and then chicken out.

Man, if it was this much trouble just to _buy_ the ring... then Sonic didn't want to think about actually asking Amy to marry him.

It was almost a joke. Him, Sonic the Hedgehog, the embodiment of the free wind itself, married. Tied down. Who'da thunk? Why, even a year ago, as a carefree eighteen year old, the last thing on Sonic's mind was getting hitched. But... a year ago, Sonic had done something that would consequently change his views on practically everything to do with love and romance. He'd make a mistake.

At least, that was how most people would classify it as.

On the one night he'd finally given in to go on a date with Amy... well, to be honest, he'd been a horny, impatient teenage guy who'd spent the first eighteen years of his life resisting his sex drive. Mix that with his speed and his impatience and... _yeah._

Part of him still regretted what he'd done. After all, he'd taken advantage of Amy's devotion and practically raped the girl, as she had said she wasn't ready to go all the way at the time. He'd broken her heart, taken her innocence, and made her cry when he'd left her, horrified at what he'd done. He'd practically ruined her life and made her grow up very quickly, as his deed had, of course, gotten her pregnant and thus a mother at the age of fifteen.

... and everyone still _wondered_ why he was afraid to ask this girl to marry him?

But... that was all in the past. Now Sonic was nineteen, and had grown up rather quickly. Amy had forgiven him and still loved him. And now.. they were the parents of two very adorable baby hedgehogs.

Chase and Sierra.

They were Sonic's pride and joy. He loved both of them, as well as Amy herself, more than he'd ever loved anything before. And even though he had no plans to ever leave his family, Sonic still wanted to reassure Amy of this and give his kids a true home.

Which brought him back to the engagement ring and plans of getting married.

Leaving the jewelry store after yet another failed attempt and cursing himself, Sonic decided he'd better head to the grocery store so it looked like he'd done something useful today.

_Yep, just pick up a few groceries and I'll go and see Amy and the twins_, Sonic thought to himself as he sped through the supermarket, picking up the staples like OJ and milk and chili dog buns. The twins were only a few weeks old (already, really?) and so they wouldn't be eating baby food for awhile, Amy had told him. Some knowledge she'd either gotten from Vanilla or one of the dozen baby books she'd bought.

Sonic tapped his feet impatiently as he waited in line, wondering if he still had enough money since his last paycheck from the government. His wallet had been getting thinner recently, since he'd had to pay the hospital an ungodly amount not to mention the loads of stuff the twins needed. Before he'd lived pretty frugally off of his hero money, being naturally non-materialistic and using the leftovers to support Tails and his machine fetish. But baby hedgehogs had a lot of needs; Sonic was finding that one out if nothing else.

_Man, times have changed_, he thought as he handed the clerk a couple twenty dollar bills and ran the rest of the way home._ A year ago I'd just be running around without a care in the world... but now I got roots and a family and responsibilities and stuff... I guess it happens to all of us. I shoulda figured it would happen to me fast just like everything else. _

But despite how demanding and time consuming Chase and Sierra were, Sonic found that he loved both of them to pieces. He didn't know why and he couldn't put it into words, but he did. They were incredibly needy, helpless, and rather annoying sometimes... but they were his. And that was enough for him.

Sonic pulled the house key out of his glove and opened the door to Amy and his house, carrying in the groceries.

"Amy, I'm home," Sonic called out, wiping his shoes on the welcome mat. He zipped out of the entrance foyer and into the kitchen to put away the small collection of groceries he'd gathered. He threw the newspaper onto the counter so he could look through the classified ads later and then headed into the living room.

A nearly silent TV flashed in front of a sixteen-year-old pink hedgehog who was lounging on the couch, a baby hedgehog in each arm.

"Hi Sonic," Amy said just above a whisper. "They just ate, so they're sleeping."

Sonic nodded and smiled down at his cute kids. "Want me to hold one?" he offered, and Amy nodded slightly.

The male hedgehog approached Amy to take his son, Chase, off of her hands, cradling the light blue hedgehog in his gentle yet protective grip. The little boy gave a whine in protest of being taken from his mother.

"Easy little guy," Sonic soothed as he sat down near Amy. "Daddy's gotcha."

But Chase didn't want to calm down, and instead his eyes scrunched up and he let out an ear-splitting wail that echoed throughout the house. Sonic winced and wanted to rub his ringing ears, but instead ran his hand up and down Chase's back. "Sh... man, don't cry... it's alright buddy..." he tried to soothe his son, but he didn't seem to want to listen.

Sonic desperately looked to Amy for help, mouthing, "what do I do?" but she shook her head. Amy had just fed Chase, so he wasn't hungry, and he'd been about to go to sleep. Oh, maybe she shouldn't have let Sonic hold him? Amy knew Sonic was just trying to help, but... she felt Sierra start wiggling in her arms, and she cursed in her head, bracing for the inevitable... but no, Sierra was wiggling just to move and thankfully wasn't adding her own cries to the fray. Usually, the twins didn't cry at the same time, for whatever reason.

Slowly, way too slowly for someone like Sonic, Chase's cries faded to just a whimper as he felt the heartbeat and love of his father holding him. Sonic let out a rather impatient sigh, glad he'd managed to calm down the little guy.

Once Chase had finally settled down, Sonic met eyes with Amy, as a smile lit up her face. Ah, Amy. How could Sonic ever forget her? She'd matured so much since she'd become a mother, and it was hard to see the little twelve year old that used to follow him everywhere and bop him on the head with that hammer underneath what she was now. She had always been pretty, of course; with her emerald eyes and pink quills that now reached her elbows, though she usually kept them pulled back. Somewhere along the line, between messing around with her and rushing the girl to the hospital for delivery... Sonic had fallen for the girl. How could he not? Amy was an amazing girl, and she'd impressed him immensely with how she'd taken this whole thing. Sonic loved Amy, and could not ask for a better mother for his kids, or another woman to spent the rest of his life with.

It was the _asking_ that was the problem.

"Did you get some groceries?" Amy asked, one hand running through Sierra's stubby quills and lavender fur.

"Yeah, just a few things," Sonic said nonchalantly and sighed. He considered telling her about the money issue, but figured she had other things to worry about. "So how was your morning?"

"Fine as usual. All they really want to do is eat and sleep right now," Amy admitted, looking down at her daughter. "Not that I'm complaining. I _love_ taking care of them."

And it was true. For the most part, Amy was happy. She had her own children to love and watch grow up _and_ she had her Sonic. What else could she need?

But still... part of her was a tad distrusting of Sonic. Yes, she loved him as she always had... but sometimes she wished he was around more. To his credit he did come over every day and had taken responsibility, but usually he took large portions of the day to go off on a run or be somewhere else. Of course, Sonic had never been one to elaborate on his activities. It wasn't that Amy assumed he was cheating on her or anything... she just wished he would step up a little more.

Not to mention their long-term future together was still up in the air. Of course, Amy had never stopped dreaming that Sonic wold propose to her one day, and then they would be a true family. And she'd hinted at it to Sonic himself to no end. But would he ever step up and do that? With Sonic, you just never knew.

Well, she'd just have to wait and see. In the meantime, she had two adorable twins, Chase and Sierra, to take care of. And that left little time to worry about much else. While they could be a handful, Amy wouldn't trade her children for the world.

"Me, too, Ames," Sonic said and smiled down at his son, almost a mirror image of himself. Chase's blue fur was just a few shades lighter than Sonic's own, though he'd inherited Amy's darker eyes. "I never knew I could be this happy with kids. They really are awesome, aren't they?"

Amy laughed a little, only to have Sierra reveal her jade colored eyes in wonder of why her mom was shaking. "They're the best, Sonic. I love them both."

Not feeling chatty, Sonic merely nodded and turned back to the TV and the random show that Amy happened to have on. Some soap opera or something. He reached for the remote to change it to a different movie and watched for a few minutes, letting Chase rest on his shoulder, when Amy suddenly interrupted him,

"You look worried, Sonic..." she said gently. "What is it?"

"What, me worried?" he tried to joke. "I let you handle all the worryin' for the both of us."

Amy smiled and pulled her daughter closer to her body. "If you say so."

About an hour passed with just the TV going, the babies snoozing, and the parents resting as well. These times of repose didn't come often, but Sonic and Amy enjoyed them while they could. Because after all, as everyone had told the new parents, kids grew up fast, and they had to enjoy every moment as it happened.

For they didn't know when things would go horribly wrong.

...A/N...

What can I say? I write what I'm inspired to do. And this story has been a_ long_ time coming.

Yes, this is the sequel to my old story "Passion" which still holds a place in my heart as my second or third favorite. But before you press the back button, you don't necessarily have to have read it to understand the sequel, as this chapter essentially gives away what happens, but you're free to (re)read it if you'd like. I recently did some editing on some of the parts I rushed, so it's a little more polished now anyway.

I have to thank Samantha27, as "Passion" was her idea in the first place, and she's given me ideas for this story, as well as GodsSonicGirl for the help she's given me. Thanks you two! ^^

Everyone is _four years older_ than their canon ages in this story... and I know you all can add, so no need for an age list. Four years, remember that.

Also... this story is very firmly rated T. The rating is not going down, if anything it'd go up but that's NOT going to happen, so don't worry. That being said, this is going to be the most mature story I've written yet, so don't be surprised... but don't be scared either.

It will also contain some other couples: Taiream and maybe one other one, we'll see...

I'll try not to keep drowning you in my long author notes every chapter... but this is a somewhat slow intro, and it'll get more exciting later, I promise you that. (Man have I got a story for you guys!)


	2. Sonic Express

JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Kurdave125, I White Raven I, poka, AutoKnight01, Novus Umbra, Tyranifex, 01sonamy01, SwedenSpeedway, Writer's Freedom, Delta 2-1, Alyssacookie, IHeartSonAmy, GodsSonicGirl, CherrletheChicken, LightVsDark99, Jacklethekitsune: ... :'') I love you guys. I hope this fic lives up to your high expectations!

Chapter 2: Sonic Express

* * *

"Good morning my darlings," Amy cooed to her children as she entered their room, the early sunlight streamed through the blinds and danced on the walls on top of the twins' cribs. The rays illuminated the blue and pink paint that was splattered on the walls.

Methodically, she first headed to Chase's side, and kissed the baby blue hedgehog's forehead before ruffling his short quills lovingly. The boy hedgehog opened his forest green eyes and looked up at his mother curiously.

Then Amy approached Sierra's crib just as the infant gave a yawn that revealed her toothless but still adorable smile. An "aww" escaped Amy's lips that were twisting into a grin as the mother gently picked her daughter up and carried her to the closet. Opening the door with her free hand, Amy did a quick survey of the multiplicity of outfits that she'd bought for Sierra. Honestly, she spent more time dressing her daughter now than she did herself, having thrown on just an old pair of jeans and a simple shirt today.

"What do you think, Sierra? The blue dress or the yellow one?" she asked in a light tone, showing the little girl both outfits with her free hand. Of course, being a few weeks old, the lavender hedgehog could only lift her hands a little, but she seemed to reach for the blue dress, touching the cottony fabric.

"Good choice, Sierra," Amy said, almost giggling. "You really inherited my taste for colors."

She set the girl down on the changing table to peel off her nightgown and change her diaper when Amy suddenly realized it'd been a few days since the twins had had a bath. It was nearly impossible to bathe both of them at the same time, though... Amy knew she'd have to have some help. And if Sonic had decided to stick around this morning, she'd solicit him.

"You stay right here, Mommy will be back soon, okay?" Amy assured her daughter and went over to kiss Chase's forehead again before aiming her feet towards the main part of the house.

Sure enough, Amy found her boyfriend sitting at the table, chomping on a bagel, a glass of milk and the newspaper spread out in front of him. What? Since when did Sonic read the newspaper?

"Morning, Sonic."

Sonic looked up. "Mornin'," he said and grinned at her before returning his intense gaze to the paper.

Amy raised an eyebrow but figured he probably had his reasons. You never knew with that guy. "Would you help me out with something?" she asked sweetly.

"Sure, gimme a sec," Sonic said rather flippantly, his lips twisted into a bit of a frown as his gloved finger traced the lines.

"Okay, just come into the bathroom when you're ready," Amy said and left him to get the warm water prepared.

After a few unfruitful seconds of searching for an interesting sounding job, Sonic stuffed the rest of the bagel into his mouth and washed down the cream cheese with milk before zipping away to help Amy out.

"Whatcha need?" Sonic asked, but as soon as he entered the bathroom and saw the two mini tubs, towels, and bath toys spread across the floor, he knew.

"Bath time, huh?" A smile grew up his muzzle. "I'll go get the kids," he offered and zipped off to do just that.

Entering the baby room, Sonic approached the changing table where Sierra was hanging out and gathered his daughter in his arms. "And how's Miss Sierra this morning?" Sonic cooed to her, using his baby-voice.

Sierra gurgled, and Sonic had to use a cloth to wipe away her spittle before going to pick up his son.

"And Chase, how you doin' buddy? You get any bad guys in your dreams?" he joked.

Now with both of his hands full, Sonic headed over to the bathroom, trying not to go too fast. Amy had told him to not go at supersonic speed while he was holding them, since she didn't want them getting dizzy and nauseous. Sonic hadn't thought it a big deal until Sierra had thrown up on him one day.

Amy was kneeling on the floor in front of two porcelain baby tubs, smiling at Sonic when he entered.

"Hey... which one do you want?" Sonic asked her.

"Um... last time I did Sierra so why don't we switch off?" Amy offered.

Sonic nodded and handed off Chase to his mother, and then both teenagers undressed their respective babies and discarded their dirty diapers. Sonic took hold of his daughter and slowly sunk her near the water.

"Oh no, Sierra, look out!" He held the girl a few inches out of the water and then lifted her up and down again, gently of course, making 'woosh' sounds before finally lowering the girl into the water.

He splashed her gently a few times, causing the girl to giggle... in a laugh that sounded so much like Amy's that it gave him pause.

Meanwhile, Amy was playing with Chase, humming a strangely familiar tune and using a washcloth to clean his cerulean and tan fur. The boy didn't seem to be bothered by the water at all, which made Amy relieved that he hadn't inherited his father's strange phobia.

"I musta hated baths as a little kid," Sonic smirked as he ran shampoo gently through Sierra's lavender quills.

Amy shot him a rather surprised look, as Sonic had never really shared his mysterious past with her before.

"And I musta been an awful kid, always runnin' off inta mischief..." he chuckled and then met eyes with Amy, a tender grin on his face.

"Our kids aren't gonna be like that, though..." Amy said, looking down at Chase, who was splashing gently in the water.

"Oh no, ours are little _angels_," Sonic said with a nod.

They continued to work in silence for a minute before Sonic spoke again. "Do you think either of them inherited my speed?"

Amy bit her lip. "I don't know, Sonic. Do you think we would've noticed by now?" Her eyes ping-ponged between both of her children.

"Ah... it's still early. I think we'll find out once they start crawling and are able to move around better... whenever_ that _is."

"Between six and ten months," Amy said matter-of-factly.

"You really know your stuff, Ames," Sonic was rather impressed.

"Well, somebody's got to," she said teasingly.

Once both twins were clean, their parents brought them out of the tubs and dried them off with warm, fluffy towels.

"Sonic, you go get Chase ready and Sierra dressed, I'll take care of cleaning up," Amy told him. "I already have a dress picked out for her today."

"Uh..." Sonic looked down at his daughter. "You _sure_ you don't wanna switch roles...?"

"No, because I know that it'll take you just as long to dress her as it will for me to clean the bathroom," she teased him again.

"Aw... okay then," Sonic said and headed to the twins' room with both of them in his arms. He first set Chase down on the corner of the changing table and quickly fastened a diaper on the young hedgehog.

"Low maintenance, man, good for you," he joked to the little boy before placing him aside and turning to Sierra.

"You missy, are going to look pretty today... now where's that dress..." Sonic muttered to himself as he was holding onto Sierra's rapidly kicking feet, trying to secure a diaper between her legs. Once he'd finally succeeded, he held her down with one hand while looking around. He finally spied a baby blue dress on the corner of her crib, and reached for it to unzip the cotton dress.

Sierra, however, was still wiggling like crazy and apparently didn't_ want _to be dressed. Sonic tried to hold her legs down, but the girl still resisted him with every inch. Quickly losing his patience, Sonic was about to call for Amy but he suddenly heard a famous giggle coming from the doorway. He spun in desperation, his eyes pleading for help, and Amy crossed the room.

"Oh _Sonic_..." she said and took the dress from him before slipping it around her daughter almost effortlessly. When she turned back to Sonic, she almost giggled again at his bewildered expression.

"Wha - how'd ya do that?" he asked with big eyes.

"It's called_ patience_, Sonic," Amy said and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek.

Sonic rolled his eyes a little, but gathered Chase in his arms before the four hedgehogs headed into the living room to hang out for the morning.

"Sonic, let me see Chase, he needs to nurse," Amy instructed once they'd sat down on the couch, and Sonic handed his son over.

Now, usually Sonic was pretty good at not looking, but this time he _couldn't_ resist a sneak peek as he heard Amy start pulling up her shirt. He subtly turned his head to catch Amy in his peripheral vision...

_Oooh holy cowbirds-_

His breath caught in his throat and Sonic found his fingers gripping the pillow he was holding until the twins suddenly obscured his view, clutching to their life support system to get some needed nourishment.

_Oh my gosh she's-_

Sonic took a deep breath and tried to get his mind back in order, though it was spinning at a good pace. _See man, this is why you should always look away... Now your mind's gonna be in the gutter for the next ten minutes. Good going._

Amy couldn't help but blush as she felt Sonic's eyes on her partly exposed chest. Sure... it was a little embarrassing and awkward to have him there and watching her... but Amy had always wanted to _directly_ feed her babies, and she'd rather have Sonic here than not. Besides, it wasn't like Sonic hadn't already seen her...

"So... you got enough in there for both of them?" Sonic suddenly teased her, a cheeky grin on his muzzle.

Amy turned a deeper red. "Well, there's not going to be any left over for _you_," she snapped sassily.

A bit taken back, but not to be outdone, Sonic smirked. "Shame, really... Cause you got nice boobs, and it looks like you've gro-"

"Shush, _you_," Amy hissed at him, still red as a cherry.

"Oh c'mon you pull those things out what's a guy to-"

"_Sonic_!" she hissed, hating to sound so angry around the kids. "I'm feeding _your_ children, now shut _up_, or I'll dust off my hammer."

That got his mouth shut, but Sonic still smirked and gave his girlfriend a wink. "I know, Ames. But I gotta tease ya. You're just too cute when you're angry and blushing."

Amy looked away, hating to admit defeat. Why could Sonic always outdo her?

"So... what were you looking in the paper for earlier?" Amy changed the subject while the twins continued to suckle.

The blue hedgehog swallowed, and shifted uncomfortably, hating the serious but necessary topic. "Well... I've been thinking about getting a job."

Amy's brow furrowed in confusion and sadness. "A job? Why? Don't you have your hero money?"

Sonic sighed and slumped a little, almost embarrassed. "Yeah... but that's running out quick, Ames, especially after you gave birth. Do you have any idea how much that cost? Jeez... I never knew things were so expensive... it's crazy, really, but... yeah... my hero money's not gonna cut it, and as the twins grow up?" He shook his head again.

"But... can't you just ask them for more or a raise or something? It's not like they can refuse you. I'm sure they'll understand if you say you have kids now..."

Sonic looked horrified for a second, but then shrugged. "Psh, it's the government. You know how hard it is for them to do anything. 'Sides, they'll ask why... and I'd rather not make a big fuss about me startin' a family, ya know? Just keep it low key... otherwise we'll just have the paparazzi and..." he sighed again, frustrated and not used to the stress he was dealing with. "Just... trust me, okay? It's for everyone's sake. I never thought I'd have ta do anything besides fighting Eggbutt either but... times have changed..."

Sonic's eyes drifted down to the cerulean and lilac hedgehogs that were still peacefully nursing, oblivious to how much stress they were causing Sonic just by existing. And yet... it wasn't_ them_ that made Sonic upset. It was the changes to himself and his previous, enviable lifestyle that was bothering him.

"But Sonic..." Amy pleaded, her voice soft. "You're hardly ever around as it is..."

"Hey now... I come over everyday, I sleep on this couch almost every night so you don't have to keep getting up at night when they cry... and I help you when you need it don't I?" He said defensively.

"Yes but..." Amy couldn't refute him, but found herself staring down at her kids. She didn't want them to grow up practically fatherless. And she didn't want to give Sonic another excuse to leave her every day... _and how do you know he's not lying about this whole thing? Oh, don't be ridiculous_, she scolded herself. Sonic was a lot of things but he wasn't dishonest.

"C'mon Ames... it's for them," he said, following her gaze. "I love you, and I want you three to live well."

"I know, Sonic..." she sighed but forced herself to smile, trying to be optimistic. "So... what have you found so far?"

Seeing Amy smile was a relief to Sonic, and he followed suit. "Heh, well... maybe ya shouldn't worry too much. None of the ads seemed like stuff I could do anyway. I mean, I'd rather live on the street than sit in an office all day..." he shuddered. "You couldn't pay me enough to do that."

Amy didn't know whether to be amused or relieved. "Sonic, it's a job. You know it's not supposed to be any _fun_."

"I know that... but that sorta job would drive me up the wall. I'd get fired after two hours for going stir crazy, heh..." he smiled. "But... why can't they pay me for just runnin' around? I mean, there's gotta be some job that's active like that..."

His chin in his hands as he wracked his brain, Sonic's jade green eyes suddenly drifted out the window and for some odd reason came to rest on the mailbox.

And idea suddenly struck him and he sat straight upright, a grin working its way up his muzzle. "That's it!"

"What is it, Sonic?" Amy asked, a little surprised and having to soothe her babies who were just as startled from their daddy's sudden outburst.

"_Amy..._" Sonic was suddenly pacing the floor in excitement. "Do you think the post office would hire me to deliver their mail for them?"

Now Amy was completely bewildered. "You're going to be a mailman?" she couldn't help but softly giggle at the thought.

"_Dude_..." Sonic was now almost laughing himself. "I could _so_ do that... That way I could still run around... and the post office would be happy... and everyone would get their mail quick... heh heh heh, I'm a_ gen_ius!" He declared, causing Amy to roll her eyes a little at his antics. But still... Sonic as a mailman... it was almost too funny.

Sonic grinned at Amy before racing over to give her a nice long kiss on the lips, his hand playing with her longer quills and ears as his lips worked their magic.

"Hey... " he said when their lips parted, and had to kiss her again as he'd missed her taste before continuing. "I'll be back in a jiffy, hopefully with a job. Take care, okay? I love you Amy."

And with that, Sonic left his girl to merely shake her head... and wish that Sonic was still here to share the rest of the day with her and their children.

...~...

By the end of the day, Amy was about ready to pull her quills out. One of the twins would cry almost nonstop for hours, and when he finally calmed down, his sister would cry... nonstop for hours. Plus it was awful hard to give equal attention to both of them, and Amy found herself worrying that one would be neglected. That and the fact that she still was running on almost no sleep.

She'd gotten angry at twins, almost enough to want to pull out her hammer a few times before she just left to take a quick breather. But once Amy herself had calmed down, she'd realized that the twins were not at fault. They were helpless and needed to be taken care of. Amy was just feeling a bit overworked... _and_ angry at Sonic for leaving her all alone to deal with this. In fact, she'd been so upset at the blue hedgehog that when he'd called (at seven o'clock after leaving her for alone the_ whole __day_) she wold have yelled at him if it wasn't for his speed and the fact that he'd said the magic words.

"Don't worry about dinner, okay? I'll bring something home."

It was the best pepperoni pizza she'd ever devoured.

"So they hired you just like that?" Amy asked, wiping cheese off of her chin. Both of the twins were sitting in their respective carriages in the two spare chairs while their parents ate.

Sonic nodded. "I'm just a smooth talker, I guess," he chuckled and looked at Amy a bit sheepishly. "Though the other workers probly aren't gonna be happy, since I really could deliver all the mail faster than all of them combined. But I guess they're going to be transferred to do other things." He shrugged. "Either way... I start tomorrow mornin'."

"How are you going to carry all that mail?"

Sonic leaned back in his chair, puffing his chest out. "Oh c'mon Ames, I carry my '_male_' around all the time."

Amy sent him a glare and threw her napkin at him, which he dodged and chuckled. "Nah, really though, they're gonna give me a bag to carry one neighborhood's worth, and then I'll have to come back to get the next batch. It should be a pretty easy job. And they're gonna pay me pretty decently." He took another bite of pizza. "So how was your day, Ames? The kids behaving?" It was then he suddenly saw Amy's expression.

"What's wrong, Ames?"

The girl let out a sigh, inexplicable tears suddenly tugging at her eyelids. "Oh nothing, Sonic. I just had to deal with _two_ screaming, hungry, needy kids all day, with a headache, and sore nipples, and a backahce and..." suddenly all the venom poured out, "... while my _boyfriend_ wasted the day running around doing what _he_ wanted, because he's too selfish and oblivious to at least _check in_ with me during the day time. Why would you ask?" She spat.

Tears dripped down her eyes from the pent up emotions, and Amy looked back down at her greasy, empty paper plate. Sonic felt guilt crash through his heart as he looked back on his day's almost fruitless activities.

"Amy..." he said gently, not realizing that she'd felt like this the whole day. "I... I... Wow. Um.. I'm sorry, honey..." he leaped from his chair to come around the table, wrapping his arms around her lovingly.

Amy wanted and enjoyed his embrace greatly, but couldn't raise her arms to hug him back. Instead, she buried her wet eyes in his chest.

"I'm sorry, Amy... I didn't think I was doin' that to ya... I'll try and be around more, okay?" he promised, running his fingers through her quills.

"It's not your fault, it's just me..." Amy sputtered out, suddenly feeling a little ashamed. "I... I know you're trying, I just... I've had a long day..." she finally raised her arms up to curve them around Sonic's back, trying to absorb his strength. Jeez it felt so good to hold him...

"Well, I'll tell ya what. I'll take night duty tonight. You just try and get some rest, I'll take care of the kids. How does that sound?"

Amy felt relief and joy wash over her. It was times like these that made her fall in love with Sonic all over again. "Oh thank you Sonic..."

"You deserve it. Now you finished eating?"

Amy nodded and gave Sonic another squeeze before releasing him. Not eager to let her go just yet, Sonic leaned forward to let their lips and tongues dance together for a minute, trying to show her how he really felt.

"I love you Amy..." he said, taking her face in his hands. "Don't ever _ever_ forget that. I can be an idiot sometimes, but I _do_ love you. And I love our kids."

Amy returned the words and smiled tiredly at him. _Do you really, Sonic? _she wondered before heading off to hopefully get some shut eye.

Sonic let out a rather guilty sigh before putting the kids through their night time routine. He'd helped Amy with it a few times, so he knew the drill, but having to do it alone for both twins did after all prove to be rather tiring, even for someone like himself, who'd had an easy day.

"Good night guys... Daddy's on duty tonight... call me if you need me..." he said to his kids before leaving them with just a night light and the security system Tails had installed on their cribs.

A few dozen dishes later, Sonic plopped onto the burgundy couch to watch whatever movie was playing on TV, before he felt drowsy enough himself to lean back and get try to get some sleep.

Yes, he'd been regulated to the couch. Which was pretty harsh in his opinion. But he sorta understood and didn't mind. He was used to sleeping on rooftops anyway... but now he wanted to sleep with Amy in his arms. Did she really distrust him that much? And was she really that scarred that she didn't want to do it with him ever again?

He sighed and let his hands fall behind his head. This was just something he'd have to _wait _on, he supposed. Which he didn't mind too much. Honestly, as much as he wanted sex... he didn't want to pressure Amy into anything again. If the girl wasn't ready... he'd just have to suck it up and hold it in. The last thing he wanted was to break her heart... again.

Of course, it didn't stop the fantasies that one day the door to her room would creak open, and she'd come out dressed in something silky and lacy, and she'd put her hands on his chest and -

_NO, man... stop being such a freaking **perv**. Seriously... that's not gonna do ya any good. _

He let out another sigh, but before he could let his mind rest on another topic, a distinct cry hit his well trained ears, and Sonic was up in flash to check on the twins.

The cry was coming from Chase's crib, Sonic could tell that immediately. He was starting to distinguish between their cries now that he'd heard them for a while.

He approached the little guy's crib and cradled him into his arms, patting his back and feeling the short quills there.

"Sh... it's okay, little guy..." Sonic soothed Chase as he left the baby room so Sierra wouldn't be disturbed. His feet brought him outside of the house into the crisp spring weather so that Amy wouldn't be woken up either. But no matter how much Sonic tried to comfort Chase, the boy just kept crying... and Sonic realized there was only one reason.

But he himself was... _unequipped_ to handle this problem. And they didn't have any bottles, as Amy insisted that they directly breastfeed. And it was times like these that made him wish she'd changed her mind.

"_What if you're not around_?" he'd asked a while back.

"_**I'm** always around, Sonic,_" she had responded. Which, of course, had settled it.

Wincing that he now had to wake up Amy, Sonic tread carefully through the house and tentatively opened the door to Amy's room.

"Ames?" he asked, only to see in the dim light the pink hedgehog already on the edge of her bed, having heard her son crying for milk.

"Give him to me, Sonic," she said with obvious fatigue.

Sonic wordlessly handed their son over and was about to turn away to leave before he realized he'd have to bring Chase back to his room. Sonic couldn't help but feel bad for Amy, too... After a second the sound of gentle sucking filled the air, and continued for a few minutes until the infant had gotten his fill. At Amy's movement of standing up, Sonic took Chase back from her and returned him to his crib as Amy collapsed back into her bed.

A minute later Amy heard the door creak open again, and tears formed in her eyes. Oh, he couldn't just handle one night, could he? _All I want is just one night, one hour off and... I can't even get that now... _Light footsteps approached her bed, but Sonic was silent and there was no crying child in his arms. Amy was about to question him but to her shock, Sonic merely pulled the covers back and climbed into bed with her, wrapping Amy in a warm embrace.

She let out a gasp as her heart started pounding like crazy. _Oh is he going to...? _

Sonic was about to kiss her when he suddenly felt how tense Amy had gotten, and he mentally cursed himself, and he felt his heart rip in sadness.

"Amy..." he whispered against her mouth. "Please don't be _afraid_ of me... I just want to comfort you... I love you, Amy..." he assured her and then broke all air between their mouths.

As his lips worked their magic, Amy relaxed and succumbed to his kiss and gentle touch. His hands smoothed down her back and quills. Her whole body melted into a pool of warmth as she realized just how much she missed and loved him. Why had she asked him to sleep on the couch again? Feeling much better than she had, Amy threw more of herself into the kiss.

Just when she was getting comfortable, she felt Sonic start retracting his hands and pulling away.

"No..." she whispered and desperately reached to pull his body back against hers, her hands strongly gripping his back quills. "Don't leave me Sonic... I love you... I need you... just don't..." she trailed off but let her lips find his again, begging him to stay.

A bit surprised but still delighted, Sonic readjusted both of them so they were both lying on their sides, their bodies matching up perfectly. Sonic had felt a little hurt that she'd exiled him away, but as the girl pull him close... he felt loved again. After kissing him for a while, Amy reluctantly retracted, as her fatigue was really catching up with her. She dipped her head and let her nose and muzzle nestle against his soft, furry chest, and closed her eyes in bliss.

And there, resting in Sonic's arms... Amy got the best night of sleep she'd had in over ten months.

...A/N...

Just a few things...

First off... Sonic as a mailman... *giggles* now look me in the eyes and tell me that's something he couldn't/wouldn't do. To me, it's the perfect job for him. I actually got the idea the same way he did, looking outside and thinking of a job he wouldn't die at, just as the mail truck passed by. ^^

Meanwhile, Amy's overworked and bit distrusting of Sonic, though she still loves him... it's pretty complicated. Sonic himself is maturing, though he's still the hedgehog we all know and love.

Yes, Sonic and Amy are now sleeping together without having sex... though we'll see how long that arrangement lasts. You can't expect this story to not have some of that sexual tension... considering their ages, what they've already done, and the fact that they're living together. But don't worry, this story is** NOT **going to be _just_ about that... but considering that I want to make this story as realistic as possible, that was something I needed to address first off.

This story is going to have many arcs, and this is just the first part.

Oh, and I will say this: I know that my conservative/traditional views on sex and marriage aren't exactly, uh, _mainstream_... all I ask is that you respect my opinion. I'm not going to preach, but I'm not going to apologize. And I'll leave it at that.

Chapter 3 sooner or later... :)


	3. Extended Family

Kurdave125, Samantha27, Jacklethekitsune, poka, I White Raven I, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Novus Umbra, Tyranifex, Kollolly, Delta 2-1, rugtugba, 01sonamy01, Sonamyluver718, SherryBlossom, Alyssacookie, AutoKnight01, zeldaskeeper [no name], IHeartSonAmy, Jonman14: Thanks guys. I know that this story is pretty slow at first, but most of you know that's just the way I write. I need to set up for some pretty big events. Man... I just get so _giddy_ thinking about them.

(Most of you can skip this paragraph). To my anonymous reviewer who said that I'm preaching: Normally I'd do this in a review reply, but since you're hiding behind a non identity I can't. I'm sorry if you were offended, that wasn't my intent. But I was a little offended myself at your words. If you'd like to talk about this further (I know I do, I hate to be misunderstood)... than, ya know, why don't you get an account on here and we'll discuss it like civilized people, alright? :) Cool.

Chapter 3: Extended Family

* * *

Amy's first acknowledgment upon waking up was the sensation of Sonic kissing her forehead and then wiggling out of her arms. She opened her eyes, only to see him leap out of bed, stretch, and then race off. A second later the shower water turned on, signaling that Sonic was getting ready for work. Amy groaned a little and looked down at her now empty bed, already missing Sonic's embrace. Last night she'd gotten some amazing sleep, with Sonic holding her so close, assuring her that he wasn't going to leave... she sighed and rolled out of bed herself, knowing that today was going to be another big, busy day.

Just when she'd finished pulling on a clean dress, the shower stopped and Sonic had appeared in the threshold of her door.

"Mornin' Ames," he said with a smile, his quills still dripping water.

"Good morning," she said in response with a yawn.

"I'll see you some time this evening, okay? Maybe the four of us can go out to dinner."

Amy nodded. "That sounds good to me. Have fun at your job, okay?"

Sonic gave her his thumbs up and a wink. "You bet. Have a good day, Ames."

And with that, Sonic made a quick stop at the twins' room to say good morning to both of them before he raced off to start his first day of paid work.

Knowing that another day alone might possibly push her over the edge, Amy decided that this morning she would pay a little visit to her "extended family". So after dressing and cleaning Chase and Sierra and packing up, Amy put them both into the twin stroller and exited the house into the fresh, fragrant spring air.

As the three hedgehogs took a stroll through the park that was in between theirs and Cream's house, flickies flew by over head, engaging in the normal spring time activity. Amy's green eyes followed their movements and the girl let out a sigh.

It would be a fair assumption to say that _this_, being alone in the park with a stroller and two kids at age sixteen, wasn't exactly what she had dreamed about when she was twelve.

Four years ago, her daydreams had been full of romantic weddings and dates with a sunset, on the beach, near a waterfall, or in a flower garden... Of course, after the wedding, her and Sonic would start off on a perfect relationship where she'd be able to have Sonic all the time when she wanted him, and they'd have ten adorable kids... and live happily ever after.

But in this current, realistic relationship... Amy hadn't even gotten the honeymoon. She'd gotten hardly any romance at all. She'd just been used one night, and then practically left to deal with the consequences. Sure, Sonic had come back to her and said he'd always be there for her... but Amy didn't know what to think. She was just so confused and torn and hurt. She loved Sonic, but wanted something out of him that she wasn't getting.

_Oh c'mon Amy, you're being too harsh with him. Can't you give Sonic a little credit? And you've always loved him before this happened. You loved him when he treated you like dirt before, and no matter what he did to you ... why have you changed your mind?_

She let out another sigh._ I don't know. I still love him... but... I guess... I've just grown up._

Finally the disillusioned girl arrived on the doorstep to Vanilla and Cream's cottage and rang the doorbell. A second later Cream opened it up.

"Amy!" the excited ten year old yelled at her best friend and ran to hug her. "I haven't seen you in _forever_. I've missed you!"

Amy smiled down at the younger girl as she wrapped her own arms around her. "I know, Cream, I've missed you too."

"Cream who is - Oh, hello Amy, dear. It's nice to see you again." Vanilla said kindly, appearing behind her daughter. "Would you like to come in?"

"If you don't mind," Amy said, releasing Cream from their hug. The younger rabbit immediately turned to the two baby hedgehogs that were resting in the stroller, gushing over how cute they were.

"No, I don't mind at all. We haven't seen you but once since you've given birth."

"I've just been really busy," Amy admitted as she entered their house. She parked the stroller near the entrance and gathered Chase into her arms while Cream asked to hold Sierra.

"Understandably so, dear. Would you like something to drink?"

Amy looked sheepish for a second. "Do you have a pot of your tea ready?"

"Of course, I always have one just in case someone will come and visit," Vanilla said and went to the kitchen to grab two cups for her famous tea.

"Amy, do you want to come watch TV with me?" Cream asked once her mother was gone.

Amy shook her head. "Sorry Cream, but I was hoping to talk with your mom for a minute. But once we're done, I'll come, okay?"

Cream's brown eyes became sad. She'd been hoping to get to hang out with Amy for a while, as they really hadn't talked in what seemed like a long time. Hardly at all since Amy had gotten pregnant, and even less now that Chase and Sierra were born.

"Okay..." her gaze drifted down to the lavender hedgehog in her arms. "Do you mind if I take Sierra into the living room then?"

The teen mother bit her lip for a second, and then shrugged, figuring it wouldn't hurt. "Sure Cream. Just be careful with her, okay? And ask me if you're unsure about anything."

"Okay, thanks, Amy," Cream said and then carried Sierra away.

Now that she only had to worry about one twin, Amy made her way into the dining room to have a private conversation with Vanilla. There were just a _few_ things that she needed to discuss with the rabbit.

"So, how are things going with the kids, Amy dear?" Vanilla asked as she poured a cup of tea and handed it to Amy across the oak table.

"Oh... they're just kids," Amy said, smiling down at Chase, who was looking around at the unfamiliar house curiously. "They cry a lot, but I think that's just normal. And they sleep all the time, too. I do love taking care of them, though."

"There's nothing like taking care of your own babies," Vanilla said fondly, moving her brown eyes in the direction of the living room where Cream was.

"I know... they may cry and poop all the time... but I still love both of them... don't I Chase?" Amy said, leaning forward to look right in Chase's eyes. The little boy cooed at her, and Amy had to wipe away some of his spittle. She then ran a finger over his belly to tickle him, and he laughed again. After a few more seconds of playing with him, Amy cuddled Chase up closer to her chest and smiled down at him lovingly.

"Ms. Vanilla..." Amy swallowed, feeling a bit awkward about what she was going to ask, although her and Vanilla had developed a very close relationship over the past ten or so months. "Can I ask your advice on something... not directly related to the kids?"

She smiled knowingly. "Sure dear. What is it?"

Amy sighed. "Well, it's about Sonic."

Vanilla took a sip of tea but nodded, encouraging Amy to continue on.

"It's... complicated between us. I mean, he just recently got a job... did I tell you that yet?"

"No, you didn't. What is he doing now?"

"Well... he's a mail man." Amy explained and started on her own cup of tea, which was starting to cool. "He said it would be the only job he could get that wouldn't drive him absolutely crazy," Amy smiled a little fondly, though she rolled her eyes.

"Is it because of the money that he decided to get one?" Vanilla asked, trying to be polite.

"Or so he says..." she muttered without thinking. "Sorry, it's just... he's hardly ever around as it is, Ms. Vanilla. I've told him that I didn't want Chase and Sierra to be fatherless, but... he doesn't listen. He usually is only around in the mornings and at night. And... I miss him. I hate having to do absolutely _everything _myself."

Vanilla swallowed a mouthful of tea, saddened for the pink hedgehog. "Well, Amy, you know that it must be hard for Sonic to change how he's always lived. You can't expect an overnight transformation. And some new fathers just don't take to their kids right away..." she paused as if recalling something. "And he never planned to be a father. So I imagine this is hard on him as well."

"It can't be all that hard on him," Amy said with a touch of bitterness. "He doesn't hardly do anything. But I know he needs space... I just want Chase and Sierra to have a father... and I don't want to go through this whole thing alone. I want him with me. I just... I feel so selfish, but all I want him is for to be around more often. Is that too _much_ to ask for?"

"Did you try talking with him about this?"

"A little bit... but he just says that he'll try harder. And now that he has a job... it doesn't look like it's going to get any better. Plus there's the fact that Eggman could attack at any time and he'd have to fight him at a short notice."

Vanilla smiled kindly and extended her hand across the table to rest it on Amy's stressed one. "Amy, listen, I understand your frustrations. But you need to love Sonic... even if he's gone all day and drives you crazy. I have a feeling that he's hurting because he might feel like you don't trust him. And if he doesn't feel loved, then he won't want to be around. You know he has feelings too, right? Sonic is dealing with his own stresses right now. So try and understand where he's coming from, Amy."

"You're right... it could be worse. He could have just _abandoned_ us..."

"Also... are you still just directly breastfeeding the babies, Amy?"

She nodded. "Yes..."

"Well, I would suggest that you should try using bottles once in awhile, and letting Sonic feed them. That way, he'll start to bond with them a little more. I think... he may just not know exactly what to do, or how to help out."

"But..." Amy sighed, now more confused. "You told me it was the best for a baby to be directly breastfed..."

"It is, dear, but I think that using bottles once in a while, it might help Sonic feel like he's helping you out more. Just try it out, honey." Vanilla smiled sweetly.

Amy nodded, and made a mental note to look into that.

"But either way, Amy," Vanilla continued, "You need to get your relationship right with Sonic, if just for the sake of Chase and Sierra. That will be important in the long run. If you two can make it through the next year or so together, than it looks like you can make it together for a long time. But right now it's about trust, Amy. You need to let Sonic know that you trust him again. And if you've forgiven him, than you need to trust him as well."

Amy looked away from Vanilla and back down at her son. She brought her index finger down to him and let him wrap his smaller ones around it. The long run. It would be inaccurate to say that Amy hadn't thought about the her and Sonic's long term future together, but in the stresses of her every day life, she hadn't had to time to really dwell on the matter recently. Of course, what Amy really wanted was to have Sonic propose to her, and for them to be a true family.

"What I really want in the long run is for us to get married. Do you think... he's ever going to propose?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Well, I'm sure it's crossed his mind. But do you really think that_ marriage _will solve everything? Will it make Sonic the perfect father? Will it make all of your problems go away?"

The girl looked back down at the table, feeling a little depressed again. "Well no, but... It wouldn't hurt. I would just feel better if I knew that Sonic had promised me that he wouldn't ever leave me... and mean it... with a ring... and formally."

"What is it you love about marriage so much?" Vanilla asked, trying to make a point.

Amy sighed... most of her romantic dreams had faded away into reality of child rearing. But still, a smile grew up her mouth. "The fact that two people who love each other so much are vowing to spend the rest of their lives together, no matter what. That and the atmosphere, the flowers, the music, the dress, the honeymoon, the setting..." she gave a sigh.

"Yet how often do they stay together 'no matter what?' People now get divorced for almost nothing now."

"It really is sad," Amy agreed, back down to earth. "But sometimes they _need _to get divorced."

Vanilla looked back into the living room to make sure Cream was out of earshot. "Amy, did I ever tell you about Cream's father?"

The pink hedgehog shook her head.

Vanilla took another sip of tea before starting on her tale. "His name was Jesse the Rabbit. He had the kindest, most lovely blue eyes. We were very young when we were married; I was only eighteen and he was twenty. I went into marriage with certain very selfish ideas, he with others... and..." Vanilla met Amy's eyes. "We were divorced only two years later."

Amy let out a gasp, she hadn't thought Vanilla was a divorcee. "Really?"

Vanilla nodded. "He took the house, I took Cream. We haven't seen each other since then."

Amy's eyes flew in the direction of Cream, suddenly sad for her best friend. "I'm sorry to hear that, Ms. Vanilla."

"Don't be, dearie. It's in the past now. And it's because of him that I have Creamy..." She smiled, seemingly content with the situation. "But look honey, the reason that I told you this is because I don't want you to think that marriage will be a cure-all. Though it certainly would be the ideal situation now, but it may take some time for Sonic to get to that point where he's ready for that. And if you keep pressuring him about it, then he might shrink away. Don't squeeze him too hard."

"So... you're saying I have to be patient?" Amy caught on.

"Yes. Be patient, and work on your relationship with him now, and then marriage will come. Make him feel welcome when he comes home... and he'll want to be there more often."

Amy smiled as she felt Chase start wiggling in her arms. She looked down at the little boy who looked so much like his father and her smile widened to take over most of her muzzle, as nothing but pure love and tenderness bubbled up in her heart. And as she looked over Chase's features, Amy couldn't help but be reminded of why she loved Sonic so much in the first place. Maybe it had started out as a silly infatuation, but lately, now that she thought about it... Sonic really had shown her love. She remembered being in pain during labor... and Sonic holding her hand for comfort and strength, encouraging her with every push. She remembered when she'd first told him that she was pregnant... and how he'd held her and promised that he wasn't going anywhere. She recalled all the times he'd helped her change diapers, cook dinner, clean the house...

Yes... with Sonic, actions had always spoken louder than words.

Sure, the hedgie could be frustrating... but he also came through for Amy, each and every time that she needed him. He had his flaws, but Amy still found a tender, gentle feeling rise in her heart whenever she thought about Sonic. Amy loved him, warts and all.

Seeing a smile grow up Amy's muzzle, Vanilla stood up, realizing her work here was done. The rabbit was just glad that she could give Amy this sort of help. Maybe she was sad that the hedgehog had done this to herself, she also knew that this might be one of the the only ways to have both of them grow up and get together. So they were doing it backwards, but it could still work out between them.

"Well, Amy... I think you better go talk with Cream now. She's really missed not having you around."

"Oh, you're right." Amy readjusted Chase and stood up as well. "I've missed her, too. But, um, thanks Ms. Vanilla, I don't know what I'd do without your advice," she said honestly.

"You're welcome, honey. I'm just glad that I could help you out."

And with that, Amy left to go and catch up with her best friend and play with both of her twins, her heart feeling much more light.

...~...

Sonic the Hedgehog entered the back door of the post office, whistling to himself. The run here had been fantastic... it was one of those mornings that made you just crave to be outside, soaking up the weather with how lovely it was. That and most of the trees held pink blooms that were just beginning to mature, signaling the rebirth of new life that had died last fall.

Still trying to find his way around the post office, Sonic finally came to the room that held all the sorted mail. He'd spent most of yesterday working out his route. They'd offered him a map, but Sonic had only studied it for a minute. He knew this world like he knew the back of his hand.

"Sonic the Hedgehog?" A young, yellow furred beaver asked him when he entered the humongous room.

"The one and only," Sonic said, flashing his grin and striking a pose.

"Hey, welcome aboard." The beaver revealed his species' trademark teeth. "I'm Wheat the Beaver. I'm in charge of the mail sorting around here."

Sonic extended his hand to shake, and Wheat returned the gesture. "We're honestly all stoked to have you aboard. With you around, we should be able to get our jobs done more quickly and efficiently, and most of the incoming mail will delivered the same day. And that is really exciting."

"Sure is," Sonic said, and his jade eyes scanned the long tables and all the mail scattered aboard them. "So... what ya got for me?"

Wheat referred to the many tables spread across the room. Above each table was a chute that spit out the letters and magazines and what not, and the many clerks that were each organizing their . "Well, when mail comes to us, we put it through the computerized system, which sorts it based on the Zone Code. We have all the mail sorted by Zone on these different tables. I'm sure that you can read, and so you see the labels there." Wheat then extended a finger towards a brown satchel. "You can carry all of the mail in this."

"Cool," Sonic said and grabbed it to sling it over his shoulder. He then recalled the brief training they'd put him through yesterday. "So... deliver the mail, gather any outgoing mail from the houses, bring it back for processing, and then continue the cycle, right?"

"Correct," Wheat said with a nod.

"Alright then... can I start now?" he asked somewhat impatiently.

Wheat nodded. "Yes, you can start immediately. Good luck, Sonic."

Sonic headed over to the first table and loaded his bag up before racing off for his first delivery in good old Green Hill Zone. Running around the familiar loops made him feel awesome and free, yet also a bit nostalgic. Well... Sonic knew he would not be taking the same route everyday, as that would get old quick, but Green Hill Zone still brought back a lot of memories.

Sonic's whole morning was swallowed up in delivering the mail, and the hedgehog was surprised at just how long it took him. Mostly because he could only go in short bursts between houses in any given neighborhood, and didn't have much time to just go on a long, uninterrupted run. But hey... at least he got to see the whole world every day this way.

About mid-afternoon, after a quick lunch break ("_Dude_... the cafeteria sells _chili dogs_?") Sonic found himself looking through the pile of mail in his hand. Now, yesterday he'd been lectured to no end that looking through other's mail was illegal and he'd be arrested if he was ever caught doing that, but at this moment, Sonic wasn't opening any letters... just smiling at the name printed on one of them.

Figuring it wouldn't hurt to chill for a second, as he could certainly make it up later, Sonic stuffed the "Mechanics Monthly" and "Robotics" magazines into a mailbox that looked more like a mouse trap and headed inside the door of a very familiar workshop.

"Sonic!"

Tails called out with delight, dropping his wrench to the floor with a loud clang, a grin overtaking his muzzle upon finally seeing the hedgehog.

"Hey Tails, it's been a while, huh?" Sonic gave his younger brother a grin and a hug, which surprised the fox quite a bit. Sonic wasn't usually all touchy feely, but Tails didn't mind and hugged him back. It'd been too long...

While he was used to long absences from the cobalt hedgehog, they'd always left each other on good terms. Now... well, Tails wasn't quite sure what to think. Sure, they were brothers forever, but... Tails couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed when Sonic had gotten Amy pregnant at such a young age, when they weren't even dating at the time. It had shocked the twelve year old to think that someone he had looked up to his whole life could do something so scandalous... and to one of their best friends, even. The knowledge hadn't sat well with Tails... though he'd tried his hardest to forgive Sonic and not let it bother him. After all, he hadn't abandoned Amy and was living with the girl now.

"Hey, how have you been, Sonic? I feel like it's been forever since we last talked."

Sonic let out a huge sigh as he released the young fox and jumped back to lounge on an empty workbench, throwing his mail bag down next to him. "Busy as heck, man. The kids keep me on my toes, though Amy's amazing about taking care of them. Oh, and..." he smiled when he followed Tails' confused gaze at his mail bag.

"Heh, that's my man-purse. You like it?"

Tails looked bewildered until Sonic crumpled in laughter. "Nah, just kidding man. But I got a job now."

"A... job?" Tails was still confused. Had it really been that long?

"Yep... now it looks like I'm gonna be the one delivering all your incredibly high power bills to ya for a while."

"What... no _way._ You're a_ mailman_ now?" Tails was incredulous, and had to hold back laughter.

"Yep," he said again, kicking his legs back and forth off of the table. "With the twins needing more and more things, my hero money just isn't cutting it. It could support me and you for a long time, but now that I'm adding Amy and Chase and Sierra..." he winced. "I got responsibilities now, man. So that's what brought my feet to your workshop at this moment. So... what have _you_ been up to?"

But Tails wasn't ready to change the subject just yet. "Wait... but what about Eggman?"

Sonic nodded and grinned. "Oh, when Eggbutt attacks again, it'll still be me an' you against him, just like old times, little bro."

For some reason, that made Tails feel a little better... though he was still trying to process this "new Sonic". Though that was more than likely going to take a while.

"So... how are you and Amy doing? Is she okay?"

For some reason, Sonic felt a blush run up his muzzle at her mention and his outer cool dissolved, indicating that was one part of Sonic's life he wasn't sure of. "We're fine..." he trailed off, considering whether he should tell Tails about what he'd been considering lately. "And I... uh... never mind."

"What is it, Sonic?" Tails asked, able to catch up on Sonic's moods like no one else but Amy could.

"Aw... n-nothing, don't worry about it." Sonic said flippantly.

Tails tilted his head, his ingenious mind catching on from the way Sonic was blushing. "Are you... going to ask her to marry you now?"

Sonic cursed in his head at how smart Tails was. His jaw unhinged to respond, but no words came out, only a surprisingly indicative, "...Uh..."

A smile carved up Tails' muzzle. "You really should, Sonic."

"Ah... I know that..." Sonic finally let his jade eyes meet Tails' crystal blue ones. "I feel like I should, but... I don't know, Tails. I don't want to do it just because I _should_... ya know what I mean? I want to do it... because I..." Sonic's face would now put a tomato to shame. "Because I l-l-love her and... " he paused, his old love-shyness now coming back.

Honestly, Sonic thought he'd outgrown the uncomfortableness he'd_ always_ felt around Amy a long time ago, especially considering what they'd already done. But for some reason, the thought of proposing to the girl was just a _little_ frightening. What if... after everything he'd done, the girl rejected him? That would sting like he couldn't even imagine.

And then there was the whole thought of being bound_ forever_ to the girl. Simply put, once he asked Amy for her hand... there really was no turning back, without a whole lot of suffering on both of their parts. And Sonic well... he was a simple, straightforward guy who didn't like being tied down to anything, mostly for that reason. He sorta figured that love, well... love could be messy and painful, and marriage... it would take up so much of his cherished freedom. Sonic was the personification of the wind and a free spirit. The thought of settling down didn't sit well with him.

And yet... his love for his family was changing everything.

"... I still want to assure Amy that I'm not going to just pack up and leave her for someone else one day. I know that's sorta what she's afraid of... I keep telling her that I won't but... I don't know if she believes me, Tails." _And that hurts. _

Tails mused for a second. "Maybe... the only way she'll feel safe is if you promise her in marriage."

"That's what I'm thinking, too." Sonic said, and let his mind wander some more. "And so... I'm still looking at rings... and thinking about it. I think... I'm gonna ask her sooner or later, but... ah... " he sighed, then suddenly gained a fierce expression. "You're not gonna tell her this, are ya?"

"Oh no," Tails promised. "I'd never do that to you."

"Thanks, man. I'd hate for you to let her know and get her hopes up and then ... something come up."

The brothers sat in silence for a minute, and just when Sonic was about to get up and continue on his mail, route, Tails spoke.

"Uh, Sonic?"

"Yeah Tails?"

"Can I ask you a... question?" Now Tails was blushing a little.

Sonic cocked his head. "Sure, what you wanna know?"

The fox fidgeted for a second, his blush deepening. "I was just wondering... uh... how did it feel?"

"How did what feel?" Sonic scratched his head.

"You know..._ it_," Tails said cryptically, not wanting to say the word out loud.

Sonic furrowed his brow in confusion. "I dunno what you mean -"

"I mean... err... when you and Amy-"

"WOAH, Tails! No!" Sonic suddenly shouted, now bright red himself. "YOU'RE like EIGHT! You should NOT be thinking about that yet! Girls are supposed to have cooties..._ yeesh_... Tails, man, NO..."

The fox rolled his eyes, though he was a bit disappointed. "Sonic, I'm _twelve_ and you know it."

"Twelve? How did you grow up so fast?" Now Sonic was bewildered.

"So are you gonna tell me?"

"No! You shouldn't be thinking about that yet... oh man... how did you get to be twelve all of a sudden..." Sonic suddenly felt very old.

"Please, Sonic?"

"Changing the subject, right _now_..."

"C'mon, Sonic... I'm curious."

Sonic was still shaking his head. "... you're just gonna hafta wait and see. FAR in the future, ya hear me? If you don't and follow in my footsteps, I will skin you_ alive_ Tails. And that is a_ promise_." Sonic stuck a gloved finger in his brother's face.

The fox gulped, for it was rare that Sonic ever got bossy with with him. _He's a real father now_, Tails realized quite suddenly. And the thought left him oddly comforted.

"Now... I gotta juice." Sonic started heading for the door. "I don't want to be fired on the first day! Catch ya later, Tails. It's good to see you anyway."

"See ya Sonic," the fox called after the blue blur that was fading into the horizon.

Yes... everything was different now... but Sonic was still Sonic. And that... gave Tails some peace of mind. At least for now, anyway.

...A/N...

... I feel so predictable.

Sonic/Tails brotherly is a staple in my stories... it's just so irresistible. Plus I left them on rather uncertain terms back in Passion and I wanted to have them back to being buds again. ^^ It also gave me a chance to show what Sonic's like away from Amy... and also to move along the "marriage plot" that certainly isn't in this story at all... ^^

And Vanilla... I totally made up that part about her being a divorcee, I just thought it might fit in this situation. (Honestly, it's not like Amy can talk about this stuff with a ten year old Cream, which is a little unfortunate).

Now I'm off... I have most of the rest of this story planned out and outlined, but the next two chapters are _very _vague in my mind. Like, so vague that I might need some help with them. This beginning section of the story is the most murky in my head, but at_ least_ I know where I want to end up. I got HUGE plans for the rest of this story... I just need to figure out the way to get there.

Thank you all for putting up with me and this story so far. I really do love you guys... :)


	4. Hedgehogs' Dilemma

JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Kurdave125, poka, AutoKnight01, Delta 2-1, Novus Umbra, rugtugba, Samantha27, Alyssacookie, Jacklethekitsune, GodsSonicGirl, Sonamyluver718, Jonman14, 01sonamy01, Therapy Angel, SherryBlossom, zeldaskeeper, IHeartSonAmy: Hey, glad you all enjoyed Tails' little, um... peak of curiosity. XD It's only natural...

Oh, and if you don't know about the meaning of the chapter name... it's some sort of psychology thing, meaning that it's impossible to get close to someone without causing mutual harm. It comes from the fact that hedgehogs have sharp quills, and well... it makes certain... actions... a bit awkward and possibly painful. No, I'm not making this up, I swear it... And I really couldn't think of a better theme for this chapter...

Warning: This chapter is VERY T rated... not M rated, but VERY T rated.

Chapter 4: The Hedgehogs' Dilemma

* * *

After racing around delivering letters, bills, and magazines for just about a week now, Sonic was really settling into his routine of delivering the mail everyday. Well, as much of a routine as _he_ could get into. But tonight... he had just one more delivery to make.

Seeing a familiar house on the horizon, Sonic zoomed right past the mailbox and stopped at the door, sending a chime echoing throughout the house. He waited for a few seconds, gripping the delivery behind his back with trembling hands. Just when his impatience was about to get the better of him to ring the doorbell again, the door opened to reveal a confused pink hedgehog.

"...Sonic?"

"That's Mr. Mail Man to you, ma'am..." The cobalt hedgehog corrected, though he was obviously fighting a grin.

Amy found herself giggling, though a perplexed expression graced her pretty features.

"Now, I have a special delivery to make, for such a lovely lady as yourself." And with that, he pulled out a dozen roses from behind his back and offered them to Amy, who gasped in delight, happy tears forming in her eyes.

"From a certain special someone. He told me to tell you he cares about you an awful lot... and he thought these roses would be the only things to match your beauty, and though they don't quite fit the bill... they'd have to do."

Amy took the bouquet and looked at Sonic lovingly with moist eyes. Sonic, knowing that look as the 'I'm about to glomp you' expression, held a finger up and shook it. "Uh uh, ya gotta read the note first."

Eagerly, Amy's fingers flew down to the plastic that was holding the roses together, and opened up a small paper card that was attached. Inside it had just a simple message.

_"Amy,_

_Last night I looked up and matched each star with a reason why I love you; I was doing great, until I ran out of stars._

_Love,_

_Your Sonic."_

"OH Sonic! That was _so_ romantic!" Amy squealed and smothered him in a hug, the roses falling to the floor. "Thank you! I love you!"

Sonic had to gasp as the air left his lungs; it'd been a while since Amy had hugged him so fiercely. And he figured it'd be better to not let Amy know he'd stolen the rather tacky phrase from the flower boutique where he'd picked up the roses from, knowing that she would eat it up. After all, the girl was still a romantic at heart... and Sonic didn't mind doing these little gestures for her.

"Yer welcome, Ames..." He brought his lips down to meet hers, encasing them in his soft pair.

The couple kissed for a minute, Amy running her hand through his quills, and Sonic with his hands on her waist. When they broke, two pairs of green eyes met, mutual feelings of love and tenderness passing between them.

"I love you, Amy..." Sonic said, brushing away her bang quills.

"I love you too..." Amy said and squeezed him close to her. "Thanks for the roses... and oh..." a grin tugged at her lips. "Next time you want to get me a present... my ring size is seven..."

Sonic blushed but ran his hands through her quills. "Seven... I may have to keep that in mind..."

"Oh, I _hope_ so." Amy gave Sonic a squeeze in delight, and another giggle escaped her before a sudden feeling of guilt rose in her heart. "Hey, um, Sonic... I feel bad, but I gotta ask you to run an errand for me... I haven't had a chance to run to the grocery store all week, and I need some things for dinner. Would you mind?"

"Course not," he said. "I'll take one of the kids, too. Which one was giving ya the trouble today?"

Amy frowned. "Oh, Sonic, don't make me choose between them."

"Yer makin' _me _choose!"

"Aw... why don't we let them choose?"

Sonic laughed. "Okay then..."

He entered the house and approached both of his kids, who were hanging out in their carriages, while Amy went to retrieve the shopping list.

"Hey guys, Daddy's home," Sonic said and gathered one twin in each arm. Both of them cooed in delight at Sonic's touch. "Now which one of you wants to go to the store with me?"

Of course, neither one responded except with soft laughs, but Sonic still smiled at both of them, rocking them back and forth in his arms playfully. He was about to say something when Amy came back inside with her list in tow, her own smile forming at seeing her boyfriend bonding with Chase and Sierra. This sight, truly, was what she longed to see all day.

"Heck..." Sonic finally said, his eyes moving from his children back to Amy. "They're both so cute... I'll take 'em both with me."

"Both?" Amy echoed, not sure if she wanted that.

"Sure, why not? That should give you some time to rest from them anyway to get dinner ready, yes?"

"Er... okay," Amy finally gave in, and Sonic put them both in a carriage to bring with him. "But be careful with them, okay? And oh... and don't go too fast when you're carrying them," Amy implored him when he was about to leave.

"Too _fast_? I didn't know there was such a thing, Ames... Besides, the twins have _my _genes in them. I'm sure they can handle a couple hundred miles -"

Amy looked horrified. "No, Sonic, no faster than fifty."

He drooped. "A _speed limit_? Aw c'mon..."

Amy remained firm, her hands on her hips. "Sonic, I do not want either of them getting sick."

"Ah, fine... I'll go on a Sunday stroll with them... even though it'll be so _boring_..." Sonic rolled his eyes, but a smile appeared on his handsome features.

"Just be careful with them, okay?" Amy reminded him as she watched him load up the precious cargo and head for the door. This would be the first time that she was leaving the twins in Sonic's sole care without her being around, and she was just a little apprehensive about it.

"Me, careful?" Sonic continued to tease, his head cocked.

Amy felt her anxiety mount, but at Sonic's wink at her and subsequent tender smile at their children, her heart calmed. They really couldn't be in better hands. So as Sonic raced off to the grocery store at fifty miles per hour until he was out of sight (and then sped up), Amy found herself feeling odd at her now quiet house. It felt almost_ lonely_. It'd been so long since she'd lived here just by herself that she'd practically forgotten what quiet _was_. But oh well... she'd just have to get dinner ready and not try to worry too much about something happening to the twins.

Meanwhile, Sonic was pushing a shopping cart through the neighborhood supermarket, loading it up with peanut butter, hot dogs, napkins, and now even a few jars of baby food, as the kids were going to be slowly weaned off of their lactose-only diet. Apparently Amy was making tacos tonight, and so after Sonic grabbed a jar of salsa to add to the mix, he looked back over the list again.

"Check, check, check... toothpaste," he breathed before heading to that section of the store.

Just after he'd grabbed the last item on his list, Sonic was about to head to the checkout lines when a box with a certain product caught his eye and caused heat to rise to his face. For a second, he just gaped at the product, his mind spinning.

_Should I...?_

His eyes darted around as if he was afraid someone he knew might be right next to him, but his glance told him the coast was clear. Yet he did feel a shiver up his back as if someone_ was_ breathing down his neck with an icy breath. Sonic's own breath had caught in his throat, but one of his gloved hands found their way over to the box. He gripped it and started reading the front and back of it, only to blush more. His eyes then left the box and flew to Chase and Sierra.

Without another thought, Sonic tossed the box of condoms into his cart.

_Just in case_, he figured a little bittersweetly and headed up to pay for his items. Within another few minutes he was back home again, setting the bags on the kitchen floor.

"Hey Sonic, did you get everything?" Amy asked him, starting to unpack his purchases.

Sonic tried not to freak as he saw her opening that certain bag, not sure he wanted her to see that he'd bought those yet, and raced over to take it from her. "Y-yeah, lemme get this, huh? Is dinner almost ready?"

"Yeah, I just needed the salsa and lettuce, thanks for going," Amy said, and her innocence and ignorance tugged at his heart a little.

"Cool," Sonic said and clutched the bag to his chest and zipped off to hide the box somewhere. Once he'd entered their shared bedroom, Sonic searched for a good hiding spot, but was coming up empty. _Crap, think, where wouldn't she look?_

"Sonic?"

"Er, coming!" he yelled back and then hastily threw the box under their bed before rushing back to face a confused Amy.

"What was that about?"

"Oh..." color came to Sonic's cheeks. "Um... _there's_ the toothpaste!" he said and grabbed the tube to put it in the bathroom, relieved that he could think fast.

Amy raised her eyebrow but shrugged. Just Sonic being Sonic, she figured.

After this incident, Sonic helped Amy with the finishing touches on dinner and the teen couple shared a simple meal of tacos, rice, and beans. Sonic shared as few stories about the mail sorters he worked with, and Amy told him about how she was already figuring out what personalities each twin had. After dinner, Amy cleaned up the dishes and Sonic took the chance to finally feed the twins himself, using a bottle. He was glad that Amy had decided to let him help with the feeding; he found it _did_ help him feel closer to his children. Both of them resisted the bottle at first, and Sonic had gotten impatient until Amy helped him coax them to drink, which of course left Sonic in awe at how good she was with kids.

As the evening hours drew on, Sonic and Amy talked and watched TV before putting their kids to sleep.

"So... you ready for bed now?" Sonic asked Amy a while later, who was nestled in his arms on the couch.

"Sure..." she said drowsily.

They headed off to Amy's room, but Sonic lingered a little off to the side awkwardly when they entered. They'd shared the bed for the past week or so no problem, but Sonic was being reluctant to just jump in, conscious of Amy's feelings.

"Um..." Amy suddenly turned from her closet, more pink than usual. Her now ungloved hand loosely gripped a golden nightgown. "Lemme... go put this on," she said bashfully and left the room to change.

Sonic found himself smiling a little at how cute she was, but came to rest on the edge of the bed. He peeled both of his gloves off and threw the cotton coverings onto the top of Amy's dresser. After this the socks came off and landed just to the side of the hamper. Figuring Amy would probably yell at him for that, Sonic got up to place both of them where they belonged.

This time when he approached the bed, Sonic decided to climb into bed and just relax. It'd been a long day, after all... and he needed to stretch his lanky legs out. His back quills softened as they descended onto the mattress, and Sonic found the rest of his limbs extending as well. A yawn escaped his mouth as he reached behind his head with his arms, puffing out his rather muscular chest. One of his legs was dangling off the side of the twin-sized bed, the other was stretched out to its full potential.

And of course, this was the image that Amy was treated with as she came back from getting dressed.

_Oh. _

_My. _

_Gosh..._

Amy's mouth had dropped about a foot as her eyes traced Sonic's toned, well-built body that was spread out in all its glory across her own bed.

_Oh jeez... he's soooo hot..._

She felt an peculiar feeling rise up inside of her, and her next instinct was to just dive on top of him and start kissing him like mad. And if Sonic would've waited one more second to open his eyes, he would've gotten _glomped._

"Sorry," he said immediately, blushing profusely as he gathered himself and retreated to the corner of the bed, sneaking under the covers. "I was takin' up the whole bed, wasn't I..." he turned to face the opposite wall, missing Amy's almost disappointed expression.

The girl scaled the rest of the space between them, climbing into bed after Sonic and wrapping her arms around him, a sly smile on her lips. "It's okay, Sonic... it's still big enough for the both of us..."

Amy's words were swallowed up as the girl grabbed Sonic and turned him to face her so she could begin kissing him deeply. Sonic was a bit surprised, as Amy was not usually this aggressive at bed time. I mean, sure, they always kissed and cuddled before one of them drifted off but... the way she was kissing him_ now_... Sonic was a bit taken back as Amy seemed to take over, inserting her tongue into his mouth and exploring the cavity. Amy gave a sensual moan and pulled Sonic even closer, relishing the feel of his body against hers.

Warning flags lit up in the back of Sonic's mind, but they were soon silenced by an even stronger desire. He began kissing her in return with just as much passion, pulling Amy as close as possible as his tongue danced with hers and his lips caressed Amy's pair. One of his hands gripped her back, the other hand's fingertips brushed against the top of her tail. Both hedgehogs enjoyed this make out session in the dark, quiet intimacy under the warm covers.

After a second they had to break, both of them panting heavily against the other's mouth.

Amy readjusted her grip on her boyfriend, one arm curving around under Sonic's back quills and the other gripped one of them. Her toes brushed against the coarse fur on his legs.

"Well, isn't someone feeling frisky tonight," Sonic whispered huskily, suddenly glad that he'd thought to buy those condoms, as it looked like Amy was getting more comfortable around him.

"It's your fault, you looked so hot lying on the bed earlier... I couldn't help myself," Amy responded, puckering her lips again to kiss him, this time much more sweetly with no tongue.

Just when she was about to relax into his arms and try to drift off, she felt Sonic take over the kiss again. She gasped a little but tried to enjoy it. Sonic, though, was fully relishing the control and newfound freedom. Amy had given him an inch... and his desires were getting the better of him.

"Amy..." Sonic purred when he broke the kiss. "Are you ready to... try again...? I'll be gentle... and, it won't hurt as much this time... and I have a condom..."

Amy froze in indecision. Did she... want to... She suddenly felt his hands start traveling up her side, his fingers coming to rest right on the side of her breast.

Right then a flood of memories from that night washed over her, and her blood froze. Oh, she'd been _so_ scared, and it had _hurt_, and Sonic had been _so_ aggressive and_ fast_ and he hadn't even looked at her... She had to close her eyes in pain and her breaths started cycling more rapidly.

Sure, she wanted him and loved him... it wasn't a question of desire... but she knew it wasn't right. Not at this stage... not yet. And now that he was wanting it again, the memories and scars of that night were being reopened in her memories that she'd tried to bury. And what if... all this time, he was still just after her body? What if he was going to leave her again?

_Oh, if I give into him, then he might leave me again... or, I'll become just the girl he can go to for sex... But... if I don't give in... then he might go find someone with looser morals... and he'll cheat on me..._

Still feeling incredibly torn and confused, Amy felt tears well up in her eyes. She'd already given into his smooth talk, his suaveness before. And she felt her own body crying out for his, but she couldn't give in. Her mental and emotional demons and scars were still haunting her, overpowering the carnal lust.

_But Amy, feel those arms, that body...it would feel so good, girl..._

_But I... he'll leave me again... and... _

"You just want to screw me," Amy spat tearfully. "That's all you want is just my body. Isn't it?"

"What,_ no,_ Amy..." Sonic was horrified, and immediately retracted his hands. Crap, did he really push her that hard?

"That's what this is all about... why you've stayed... just to get back into my pants..." she sputtered, now shaking with emotion.

"No, Amy... I'm here because I love you..." Sonic assured her, moving his hands back up to her face.

"No you don't, Sonic!" Amy yelled at him, causing Sonic to cringe at her voice... and the pain of being rejected and distrusted.

"Yes, I do... why won't you believe me?" Sonic pleaded. "And I love our kids..."

"The kids." The tears were now flowing freely down Amy's muzzle and she wiggled out of his grip, retreating to her own corner of their bed. "Oh, just go back to sleep, Sonic."

Sonic stared at her in shock. Okay, so he was a little pissed, though mostly hurt. _What is up with her? I just want to love her... what is she so scared of? Doesn't she know how hard it is for me to feel the way I do about her, see her everyday... and to get so close, and for her to still reject me and be scared of me? Was she really that sensitive?_

He heard Amy sobbing right next to him... and extended his hand to touch her, but Amy sputtered. "Don't you _dare_ touch me, Sonic the Hedgehog."

_Crap. _

With Amy bawling like this, Sonic felt like he did when one of the twins was crying - Sonic could never be sure exactly why or what to do. But his children, at least would let him hold them. Amy wouldn't even allow him that much.

"I love you, Amy," he whispered again, not sure what else to say.

"No you don't... just go to sleep, Sonic..." Amy muttered into the pillow.

"Amy, how can I sleep if I know that you're crying?"

She continued to sob and sniffle, clutching the pillow close to her face. "Oh, Sonic, you don't understand... it's not that I don't love you... because I do... but why can't we just cuddle, like we always do?"

Sonic swallowed in disappointment, but knew that he'd have to compromise. "If that's what you want, Amy... but.. why won't you let me love you...?" he questioned. "I'll be gentle... and we don't have to go_ all_ the way..."

"Because... OH... if I do, then... it'll hurt and... you're just going to leave me alone with the kids and I'll become just your sex toy... but OH if I don't, you're going to go find someone else to screw with..." Amy babbled, tears still rolling down her face.

Shock ran up and down Sonic's body at this horrible thought. Had Amy really thought that he would do that to her? His heart clenched in pain as he was, still, ten months later, living with the guilt of practically raping the girl.

"Amy, I would never _dream_ of doing that to you," Sonic assured her. "I'm not leaving you, I love you and Chase and Sierra too much to ever do that. And... if you don't want to, then I don't want to pressure you into anything, but..." he let out a rather frustrated gasp. "I just want to show you how much I love you..."

Amy sniffled again, but turned to look at him. In the dim light, she could make out the outline of his face. "Sonic... if you love me... then don't do this to me... I'm... I don't want to be hurt again, I don't want you to leave me again... I'm..." she sniffed. "I'm still healing... and I don't want to be just your playgirl... the girl you go to when you just need your fix...I just want you to love me... by being there for me and our kids, when we need you, like you always have... and..." she sniffed again. "...if you do that... I'll give you the best night of your life one day... but not yet, Sonic... not yet... can you wait for me to heal?"

Could he, the most impatient hedgehog of all time,... _wait_ for her? His carnal urges were screaming no, but his heart and his head were screaming yes. How could he not?

Without wasting any time, Sonic gathered Amy gently in his arms, his heart melting as he felt her own arms encircle him.

"I'll do everything in my power so that we can heal this," Sonic promised, in between planting gentle kisses on her head. "I don't want to let anything hurt you ever again. I'm always gonna be here... if just to hold you, Amy. I promise."

Amy's heart melted in utter happiness, as she snuggled into his protective grip. "Thank you... good night, Sonic."

"Good night, Amy," he whispered and closed his eyes to sleep.

Yes, things were different now, much different than they'd been on that night. The difference was, Sonic now loved Amy.

And love changes everything.

...A/N...

...This was the "I'm glad that's over with" and necessary chapter. It was a bit awkward to write (curse my over active imagination)... but at the same time, I'm a little proud of myself. I never thought I could pull off what I wanted to with this.

With the first part I gave you all a touch of romance as well as showed Sonic and Amy's differing parenting styles. I think Amy'd be the type to be more overprotective, where Sonic would be more laid back. Which means they balance each other. Just another reason to love SonAmy... 8D

Okay, I hope you all weren't freaking about that scene... I hope it wasn't too bad for ya...but I needed to sorta address the tension that they're feeling right now, with them sleeping together. I mean, I could just plug my ears and sorta sweep it under the rug... but I'd be leaving out a crucial part of their relationship. It's just something they (and I) needed to deal with.

I sorta played off the idea that Amy's greatest fear is abandonment... that and the fact that rape victims don't heal all that easily, especially if it's someone they trust a lot that did the deed. So she's still nursing those scars, and it'll take time to heal. And Sonic, because he loves Amy, is willing to actually be _patient_ and wait for her to heal. Considering who Sonic is, this is the perfect example of sweetness in my book.

I've said too much. But I'm planning on "closing the door" on them for the rest of this story now, so you all can breathe easily. ^^'

But anyway, YAY the first part of this story is now done! So... it's about a third of the way completed now.

Chapter 5 is when things start to change, so stay tuned. Should be a quick update, as most of it's already written. ^_^

...gosh I'm scared of what you guys are gonna say...


	5. A Girl's Best Friend

Kurdave125, AutoKnight01, Samantha27, Koollolly, Tyranifex, SpeedAngel9294, Novus Umbra, Jacklethemarionette, Jonman14, poka, kittygirl1234, Delta 2-1, XoxoSonamy4440oxoX, Sonamyluver718, GodsSonicGirl, 01sonamy01: See, this is why I love you guys. I can write something that's... not so good ... and you guys still love me and are reading. Trust me, this story is just beginning. Things get interesting now. Hang tight.

Chapter 5: A Girl's Best Friend

* * *

_Just one more zone_, Sonic thought as he stuffed yet another handful of mail into a passing mailbox and zipped along to the next one. He was trying to hurry (though for him that was a given), but even more so right now, as he had something big planned for after work today. And he wanted to do it before he went home for the evening, as it was something he'd rather not share with Amy just yet.

_Yep, just a few more houses_, Sonic's thoughts continued as he caught a glance of how low the sun was. His feet started moving more quickly, and the houses he was passing must have heard thunder from all the staggered, mini sonic booms he was creating between each mailbox. _A few more houses and I will-_

_Oh jeez... I'm actually going to do this, aren't I?_

_Yes, you are doing it tonight. You are not chickening out this time. You even have a safety measure in place so that you **can't** chicken out._

He sighed nervously. Man... why was this so hard in the first place? Why, he'd taken on full armies of Eggman's robots before, and laughed in the doctor's face. But this... man, he couldn't even _buy _the ring to ask a girl to marry him. A girl that had been begging him for just that for over_ five years_, he might add.

_Yeah but-_

_No buts, Sonic. After you finish today's deliveries, you are **going** to get Tails for moral support and then you** are **picking out an engagement ring. _

Yes. He was going to do this. Even if it killed him. Why was he willingly putting himself through such torture? ... Because. He loved Amy, and love changes everything. This is what Sonic had come to know for a fact. There was no one else he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Heck, the old argument about him not wanting to give up his freedom... it was getting a little old. Honestly, the more time he spent with Amy and Chase and Sierra, the more he loved them. It was something in Amy's eyes when she looked at him so sweetly, something in the way the twins laughed when he tickled them or held them. It was something intangible that just bubbled up in his heart randomly, something tender yet powerful and gripping. Whatever it was... it was love. Sonic had been hit by love... and there was no running this time. There was no_ desire_ to run this time.

There was only the desire to be with Amy and their kids. This whole settling down thing... well, it was growing on him, anyway. And he was tired of keeping Amy hanging and uncertain of his true intentions. And so... not out of obligation, but out of true love, Sonic had decided that he was going to step up and propose to Amy Rose.

...yeah, it had a nice rhyme to it, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow in Sonic's book. While his heart and soul were telling him one way... his innate nature was being stubborn. His nature was telling him he couldn't do this... that he would cease to be the wind and himself if he ever "gave in" to the binding nature of love, marriage, and commitments.

But whatever... he already had commitments and a family, whether he wanted them or not. (And he'd come to want them.) He'd been thrown into that path without prior warning... but really, that was to be expected with him, wasn't it? He was always having to think on his feet and wing it, getting into new adventures without planning them out. This whole thing was really his style. Maybe, then... it was better that he'd been thrown into the fire. Otherwise, he never would've jumped in and discovered just how wonderful and rewarding having a family could be.

And now... he just had to do that last step: make it official. With a ring and a wedding... just like Amy had dreamed about for so long.

Yes... all of this marriage stuff was not for himself, as love was unselfish and sacrificial by nature... but getting married was all for_ Amy_, his better half, his girl, his love. It was all for her.

...~...

After he finally finished the last Zone, Sonic headed back to the post office.

"Well, well, Sonic. Looks like you put the speed on today!" The yellow beaver named Wheat, and Sonic's boss, told him.

"Yeah, sure did." Sonic looked at the time, which read 3:30. Normally he could be done by 4 or 5 o'clock. "D'ya mind if I leave a little earlier today? I'll finish the extra deliveries tomorrow."

Wheat nodded. "That's fine with me. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon."

"Thanks Wheat. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Take care, Sonic."

With that, the blue hedgehog left the post office for the day. By instinct, he started heading towards his and Amy's home, but then reminded himself and changed course towards Tails' place. He figured if he brought the fox along, Tails wouldn't let him leave the store without a ring.

"Hey little bro," Sonic said as he busted into the workshop without knocking.

Used to these interruptions, Tails merely turned from his computer screen looking confused. "Hey Sonic... but didn't you already deliver the mail today?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep... but I'm here to ask you for a favor."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Uh... _well_..." Sonic gnawed at his lip nervously before sighing and steeling his expression. "I'm... going to go buy Amy's engagement ring," he said quietly.

"Really, _now_?" Tails asked with wide eyes. Sonic nodded. "And you want to bring me along?"

"Heh, yeah... I've been to a jewelry store a ton of times without getting a ring... but I figured if I brought you along... you won't let me chicken out again."

Tails chuckled, though he was still thrilled that Sonic was going to finally step up and do what everyone had been waiting for him to do. "Well, alright then. Just let me finish this last thing here."

Sonic nodded, but tapped his foot impatiently, his jade eyes scanning across the rather cluttered room, noting how much messier it was than Amy's was. Or, at least had been before they'd gotten kids.

"There we go," Tails finally said and turned off his computer, hopping from the chair and stretching. "Oh, have you told Amy that you might be home a little later? I mean, this might take awhile to choose one," Tails pointed out.

"Nah, it shouldn't take that long. 'Sides, what am I supposed to tell Amy? I might be home later because I'm looking at engagement rings?"

He had a point there, but Tails was still a little nervous. Oh well, it wasn't his problem. Not saying another word, Sonic started running at a pace he knew Tails could handle with his namesakes.

"...So, you're actually gonna step up and ask Amy to marry you." Tails commented while he was flying next to Sonic on their run.

"Tails, please, don't _remind_ me. Let's just pretend that I'm just buying any old ring for any reason, okay? I think that if I just forget that I'm gonna use it to ask her to marry me..." a look of horror crossed his face. "T-then I'll be just fine..."

"But, Sonic... aren't you gonna wait for a while? I mean, Amy's only sixteen, right? Can she even be legally married at that age?"

"I don't know about that, but we don't have to get married right away. And I'd rather not keep her hanging any longer, ya know?"

"But, knowing both of you, you'll probably have the wedding the following week," Tails teased him, knowing Sonic's impatience and Amy's eagerness.

"Okay, seriously... you're not helping, man... at_ all_..." Sonic had to swallow a lump of nervousness.

"What are you so scared of? It's not like she's going to reject you." Tails had to repress a laugh. Wouldn't that be ironic? "So... you got anything planned for how exactly you're going to ask her?"

Sonic winced. "Not exactly. Maybe thinkin' of doing some big romantic date thing, but thing is, neither of us have been able to go out anymore, because of Chase and Sierra. So we'd have to find someone to watch them... " Sonic cocked his head, and he turned to look into Tails' blue eyes. ".._.You _wouldn't want to babysit for us, would you?"

"_Me_?" Tails eyes got huge, horrified at the thought of being the sole provider of two demanding babies for a few hours.

"_Yeah,_ ya know, me and Amy would both feel better asking you than hiring someone we don't know. It'd be good practice for you."

"Err... I don't know, Sonic..." Tails said uncertainly.

"C'mon, man... you know it's been forever since I took Amy on an actual date, and I think that she really does deserve it...it'd be a good way to ask her, too. I'd really appreciate it, man."

_Way to guilt trip me... _"I know, but I just don't know if I could _handle_ it. I've never had to take care of kids before."

"It's not that hard, dude. Just hold them and feed them and change them. Amy and I'lll give you the rundown. It'll only be for a few hours, and they go to bed really early. And they're both only about a month or so old and don't need much. But if you really can't... OH," another idea hit Sonic. "We could get_ Cream _to help you out, I'm sure she'd _love_ to."

Tails immediately blushed. "C-cream?" he stuttered.

"_Yes_, that's _perfect_," the hedgehog continued, oblivious to Tails' embarrassment. "That way, there'd be two of you and so it wouldn't be as hard caring for two kids. Right Tail- whoa, why are you so _red_?"

The fox turned away. "I'm not..."

Sonic raised his eyebrow before a smirk took over his muzzle, catching on quickly. "_Sure_ ya aren't. Now, isn't that just the cutest thing ever..."

"It's not what you think!" Tails insisted, his face still beet red.

More chuckles escaped Sonic as he shook his head against the wind. "You really are growing up, little bro. Oh, wait til_ Amy_ hears about this..."

"NO!" Tails protested, knowing that Amy would tell Cream. "Sonic, please don't tell her!"

"Ha, it'll be real _funny_."

"Sonic, if you tell her than I'll tell her you're thinking of proposing," Tails threatened.

That got his mouth shut. "Alright, fair enough. But still... you'll do this for me one evening, right?"

Tails blushed again, but smiled bashfully. "As long as _Cream_ is there with me..."

"I'll see what I can do about that, little bro."

And with a now mutual blackmail, the two brothers found themselves right outside the medium-sized jewelry store, the bright signs advertsing the brilliant diamonds glaring at them. While Sonic was still paralyzed in fear of going in there, he suddenly felt Tails grip his arm.

"Sonic!" the fox hissed, a grin growing over his furry white muzzle. "I just got an idea!"

"What is it?" Sonic turned his jade eyes over to Tails' blue ones.

"You want to get Amy a really nice ring, right?"

"Of course," Sonic said with a nod.

"Well... I know someone who could really help you pick one out." Sonic still looked confused, so Tails continued. "Just think, who do we know that knows _a lot _about diamonds and jewelry?"

Sonic grinned and snapped his fingers before pointing one at his younger sibling. "You,_ Miles_, are a genius."

Tails didn't even have enough time to cringe at the use of his real name before Sonic was gone in a rush of wind, and Tails had to put his bushy appendages to work to catch up with him.

...~...

"...Big Blue? What brings a handsome man like you here?"

Sonic made a bit of a face. He knew Rouge lived to make men uncomfortable, and he was glad Tails was here with him. Still, he shifted a bit awkwardly right outside the bat's door.

"Well, I need ta ask you for some help."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Help, hm? I'm all ears, darlin'. Would you like to come in and tell me _more_?" She cocked her head, implying 'What's in it for me?'

Sonic shook his head. "No, we can talk here... but see, thing is..." he lowered his voice a bit. "No one can know about what we're about to do."

Now Rogue was _very_ interested. "A secret, huh? Do tell."

Sonic winced again. "I... need your word that you won't tell anyone until after it's time. Can I trust you?"

"Of course you can, sugar. Now what is it that would get you in trouble?"

"I'm serious Rouge. Nobody can know. Especially not Amy."

Rouge's eyes flashed, but her curiosity was almost killing her. "Why would I tell Pinky _anyway_?"

"Still... I want your word. And if you promise..." he suddenly reached into his back-quills, producing a shiny purple Chaos Emerald. Rouge's eyes got huge. "I'll let you have this thing."

The bat was almost salivating as she looked over the violet Chaos Emerald. It was so perfectly gorgeous... the waning sunlight was hitting it just right, making the gem glow even more than usual. "_Hel_-lo..." she purred and almost reached for the Emerald before Sonic snatched it away to put it in safe keeping.

"Do we have a deal?" Sonic asked almost rhetorically, grinning cockily now that he knew he had the bat under his thumb.

Rouge nodded. "I do think so, Sonic... now what is it you need from little old me?"

"I have your word, that you won't tell a single soul?" Sonic was dead serious, even though his eyes were shining.

"Yes," Rouge rolled her eyes, wondering why Sonic had gotten so serious all of sudden. Was becoming a father having that effect on him? She'd have to keep that in mind later.

"Alright then." And with that Sonic suddenly gripped Rouge's wrist with one hand, and Tails' with the other, and took off at the speed of sound.

Rouge shrieked as the sudden rush of wind caught up with her, blowing past her face with fury and her body flew backwards. The bat could only hold on tight as Sonic continued to run, knowing if she let go it'd be deadly. Why would anyone want to date this guy? He really had no idea how to treat a girl, did he? Sure, he was handsome... very much so, in fact, and he had the charm to make any female under twenty five drool. Yet, he wasn't Rouge's type.

Assuming the bat_ had_ a type. After all, she was known for flirting with everyone having a Y chromosome. And why not? Flirting was just some innocent fun. And Sonic really was one of the only guys she knew who was willing to match wits with her once in while. Knuckles was cute, but bless him, the echidna couldn't flirt to save his life (or if he could, was too busy yelling at her to try). And Shadow's head was stuck back fifty years ago most of the time, and the other time he was always so serious.

But Rouge wasn't stupid or ignorant: Sonic was taken (by a rather jealous girl), and she had no problem with that, either way. That didn't mean she couldn't have some fun with him.

_Whatever_ they were doing... and all for a Chaos Emerald of course.

Knowing he had cargo with him, Sonic came to a gradual halt. Rouge felt her feet drag across the floor as Tails used his bushy appendages to bring himself down.

"Well..." the bat brushed down her outfit and smoothed out her hair, which was frazzled. "You sure know how to treat a lady."

Sonic shot her an unamused look. "Hey, if you would've flown yourself than it would've taken us hours to get here."

"And we would've been in one piece," she grumbled, but found herself looking around and wondering what sort of top secret mission would happen in a strip mall.

"Guys..." Tails interrupted them. "We're here for a reason."

"Oh right, sugar, I forgot. And now I feel rather flattered. As I can know about this mission... but your _girlfriend_ can't," Rouge gave Sonic a wink.

Sonic blushed and looked at the jewelry store in front of them. "Well... see... I've been thinking of proposing to Amy."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Already? Isn't she only sixteen?"

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want to keep her wondering any more. And I was thinking _you_ could help me pick out a nice ring for her."

"I see." A smirk came over the bat's face. "And so you called on the expert in jewlery. I'm flattered, Big Blue."

"It was Tails' idea," Sonic admitted, elbowing his younger sibling in the side.

"Thanks Foxboy. I'll make it up to you sometime."

Tails ignored the bat and turned to the blue hedgehog. "So, Sonic... you ready?"

He took a deep breath. "Y-yeah... let's _do_ this thing." He was about to lift his arm to open the door when Rouge grabbed it.

"Wait, _this_ is the store you've been looking in?" Rouge confirmed.

Sonic nodded, only to have Rouge laugh in his face. "Oh, no wonder you couldn't find any good rings..."

The blue hedgehog crossed his tan arms across his chest, pulling away from the bat and narowing his eyes in annoyance. "Hey... you don't have to help us, you know... and that Chaos Emerald is where it belongs right now..."

Rouge ceased her laughter, but still smirked. "Oh please, Big Blue... if you want my help, than I would say stay clear of that store. They've been into fake diamonds for years now. Of course, it's not common knowledge, but I can see a fake diamond a mile away."

Sonic looked back into the store, still a bit irriated. "Well, where else would you suggest?" he added. He had no idea where any other jewelry stores were, as they weren't exactly something that he kept his eyes peeled for on his runs.

"There's only one decent place around here: Dazzle Her."

"Where's that?"

"It's in its own boutique, near the mall. Not the one in Station Square, the one near Blue Ridge Zone."

Sonic consulted the map in his head. "... on the east side?" he confirmed.

"That's the one. It has the best galleries... not to mention I know where the roof is the thinnest... but of course, you're thinking of buying it." Rouge said as a statement.

"_Yeah_," Sonic said as if that were obvious. He looked back at an outside clock and winced. "Now c'mon, I wanna get this over with soon, so Amy doesn't start worryin' about me." He was about to reach for Rouge's wrist again, but the bat pulled away.

"No way, I'm not getting my arm broken by your dare devil speed," Rouge said, crossing her arms and closing her teal eyes.

_Ugh... how high maintenance... who would ever want to date this girl_? Sonic wondered. "Suit yourself. You'll just have to catch up with us, then. C'mon Tails."

And without further warning, Sonic took off. Tails gave Rouge a rather apologetic look before following suit, leaving the bat to mutter an indignant, "UGH," roll her eyes and fly after the boys at her own pace.

...~...

As it turned out, picking out a ring _did _take a long time... much longer than Sonic would've dreamed of. It wasn't that he was indecisive (ha), but he really, honestly wanted to pick out a nice ring for Amy and Rouge ended up giving him some invaluable pointers of things he hadn't thought of. ("No, that one's way too big for everyday wear... ugh, _way_ too gaudy... that one looks too lopsided... too many little diamonds on the sides... too simple, looks like you got it out of a Cracker Jack box...). In the end, though, Sonic finally _did_ pick one out. And he was very happy with his purchase.

He walked out of Dazzle Her with a huge grin across his muzzle, feeling stoked that he had _finally_ gotten this over with. "Aw man, am I good or what?" he chuckled as Tails punched his arm playfully.

"Congratz, Sonic," his little brother congratulated him.

Sonic nodded before turning to the bat. "Thanks a million Rouge. I mean it."

"No problem, handsome. So when do I get that _gorgeous_ Chaos Emerald?"

"After I propose," Sonic insisted, looking down at the velvet covered box. "To make sure you keep this a secret."

Rouge pouted. "And how long is _that_ going to take?"

"Oh... I'll get to it eventually," Sonic said before hiding the box away. "And I'm sure you'll hear about it."

"Alright then. Oh," she leaned forward to touch his arm, running her hands up his muscles before Sonic pulled away. "It's not polite to keep a girl waiting, Sonic," Rouge reminded him and then flew off, leaving Sonic and Tails.

...~...

Little did the three know... that as they parted ways for the evening, they were being watched by two ruby red eyes that were hiding in a nearby corner. The black hedgehog they belonged to was shocked to see...

Sonic... and... _Rouge_? _Together_?

Once he got over his initial shock, which took less than a second, Shadow bit his lip in indecision. Everyone knew Sonic and Amy were a pair and parents now. And everyone assumed they knew all about who Rouge was. But still... was Sonic really cheating on Amy with Rouge? It seemed unlikely, yet Shadow wouldn't put it past either of them, if the circumstances were right.

_You should really just mind your own business, Shadow_. He told himself, and knew it to be true. But he still couldn't get out of his head the image of Amy, at home with her and Sonic's kids, being completely ignorant that Sonic was literally running around on her. It was bad enough that Sonic had screwed up the young teenager's life by making her a mother at such a young age... but now he was cheating on her on top of that?

_Real classy, faker... dating Rouge behind Amy's back. _

_Real classy. _

...A/N...

I can hear the Shadz fangirls now (wait, do I actually have any of them as readers?) OMG Shadow! ... don't get too excited about the emohog... he's gonna play a bit of a role in this story. *Sigh* If I don't end up butchering his character.

But still... he saw Sonic and Rouge together... and, well, what would YOU think? Oh man, this isn't gonna turn out well...

And yes, I hope you all caught the little TailsxCream hint... :) They'll be along later in this story.

OH, and YAY Sonic bought the ring! YAY YAY YAY! (and I didn't describe it that well for obvious reasons.)

Stay tuned... next chapter is going to take awhile though.


	6. Mistakes Were Made

01sonamy01, Jonman14, Sonamyluver718, Kurdave125, GGUNDAMFAN34, AutoKnight01, Novus Umbra, Jacklethekitsune, Samantha27, Mana the Cat Magician, poka, zeldaskeeper, fireworkmage, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Tyranifex, Delta 2-1: Okay, you all are gonna roll your eyes. But... ^^' I realize that last chapter I wrote Sonic awfully and took his nervousness too far... like he was proposing just by obligation, and that was NOT how I wanted to portray him as. So, of course, since I'm always_ so picky_ on how I write the Blue Blur, I went back and added a few paragraphs of characterization at the beginning. You all know me... so reread if you want. (Please... it would make my day... you don't have to review again, just read it... sorry I sound so whiny/demanding but I'm _very_ picky about how I write Sonic, if no one else.)

Otherwise, just know that yes, he's proposing out of love and not just because it's the right thing to do... and continue on with a new chapter I'm proud of.

Chapter 6: Mistakes Were Made

* * *

The sun had already reached its zenith for the day, emitting rays to warm the planet below it as it turned into the even hotter afternoon. And a certain red and black hedgehog had spent most of those morning hours debating with himself on whether or not to get involved with this new, rather sticky situation he'd found himself in. One the one hand it really wasn't his business what Sonic and Rouge were doing. And yet, whether Shadow wanted to admit it or not, they were all his friends.

Rouge certainly was; the bat had always stood by him and accepted him for who he was. Why they'd even dated once before, before deciding to remain as just friends with no hard feelings on either side. Yes, to Shadow, Rouge was a friend. And despite her rather spotty reputation, Shadow knew she wasn't the "easy" girl that everyone thought she was. Shadow had found _that_ out, really quick.

And yet... there was the simple fact that he'd seen her with Sonic, alone. They were coming out of a nice store, and Rouge had run her hand up his arm before leaning forward to whisper something, that seductive smirk perpetually twisting her lips. But... what was her motivation? If she wasn't easy, then maybe she was... desperate? No... she must just be experimenting. Or just having fun, enjoying the danger of the situation.

And Sonic? ... what was his gig? Sure, the blue hedgehog had his flaws as did everyone, this Shadow knew. And he could see him potentially ditching Amy or leaving her mostly to her own devices at the absolute _worst_... but saying he would stick with her and yet sneak around behind her back? Cold. It was way worse than him not staying at all. And something that seemed very unusual for Sonic to do.

But if Shadow knew anything... it was that people don't always do what they should, what they promised they would, or what made sense. And of course, an innocent girl would end up getting hurt in the process. And Shadow couldn't have that happen.

Either way, he still wasn't convinced and wasn't one to get jump to conclusions. And so he was first going to go seek out Rouge to get her side of the story.

Of course, her club wasn't open at this time of day, but he still found Rouge in front of a mirror, putting on gobs of makeup. Was she getting ready to leave for a secret meeting with her boyfriend?

"Well, Shadow, this is a surprise," was how Rouge greeted the hedgehog as he appeared in her mirror. She brushed on another layer of eyeshadow and turned to face him.

He wasn't interested in formalities. "I thought that you were better than this."

The bat rolled her eyes. "Well, a girl's gotta have her makeup, Shadz."

"For your new boyfriend," he said coolly.

"Oh... he will be when I get through with him," Rouge smirked.

_What_... she would openly admit it? ...so, Rouge was just seducing Sonic then, if they weren't together yet? Well, that cleared up a few things. But it looked like she was winning him over. Either way, Sonic shouldn't be playing with fire and letting himself be tempted. Maybe Shadow could stop this before it went too far.

"I still can't believe you're doing this - dating a man who is already a father and taken. You should know better than that. Helping someone cheat... I never felt that you would stoop to that."

"... a_ father_?" Rouge was bewildered. "What in the world are you _talking_ about?" Her mind started spinning._ I didn't think that **he** was..._

"Don't play dumb. Sonic is a father and you know it. You dragged me to the hospital when Amy gave birth-"

Rouge's eyes got huge for a minute before she threw her head back, violent laughter erupting. "OH... hahahahahaha! _Sonic_? Ha ha - oh yes, me and Big Blue... ha ha ha Shadz, you've really outdone yourself with this one... ha ha ha ha..." she brought a hand up to her mouth to try and contain her laughs.

Shadow crossed his arms, his internal BS detector going off. _She's acting_."Don't try that one on me. I saw you with him yesterday."

Rouge froze as the memories suddenly came back to her... Shadow had seen her and Sonic together? _Dangit! This could get messy... too bad I was promised a Chaos Emerald to keep me quiet, I'm not letting that baby out of my sight... but good thing no one else will believe Shadow if he says I'm dating Sonic... they're not that dumb. I'm safe if he doesn't know._

Still, Rouge crossed her arms. "Shadow! I'm not dating Sonic. That's actually insulting. I'd never try and break up that happy family, you know I don't take to hedgehogs, and I'd rather not have a psycho Pinky trying to _kill_ me, _thanks_."

"Than what were you doing with him yesterday?"

_Purple Chaos Emerald... _"Nothing. Now I suggest you be a good boy and mind your _own_ business, handsome."

And with that, Rouge left Shadow to think and wonder, heading off towards her _true_ target... hoping that maybe this time, _Knuckles _would actually let her stick around for more than ten minutes before he kicked her off Angel Island. Because after all... the echidna was awful cute. And he was one of the few guys that had actually stuck in her heart and mind throughout the years. And tonight... she wasn't going to fail with him.

_Hmph_. That was all Shadow was left with, his suspicions all but confirmed, from how she was putting on makeup and danced around the subject. It would always be up to him to be the bad guy, the realistic one, the bearer of bad news. It wasn't fair... but that was just the story of Shadow's life, wasn't it? Either way... he felt Amy deserved to know the truth. And if he had to be the one to tell her... so be it. It wasn't like he was afraid to get his hands dirty.

...~...

After the bright lights that came from using Chaos Control vanished, Shadow found himself right where he imagined: on Amy's door step. The girl lived in a rather small, what looked to be two-bedroom house that had a brick exterior. The door itself was painted a brownish-mahogany, and contrasted against Shadow's ivory glove that knocked a few times, calling the inhabitant(s) to open it and let him in. Shadow waited patiently for the door to open, still wishing that he didn't have to be the one to do this.

Finally, the door swung open, revealing a rather flustered looking Amy. Her quills were ruffled and uncombed, and she had a baby hedgehog in each arm. The lavender one gave a whimper, and Amy looked down at her and whispered "shhh" before looking back at her visitor.

"Shadow?" There was certainly surprise brushed across her face, but also guarded fear, and Shadow was used to that. Amy had always been a little cautious and afraid of him, which he understood but didn't like. Usually Amy was a positive and happy person... at least when she was younger. That rather youthful personality ironically brought back such solemn memories, the only ones he had left...

"Amy," he nodded with respect. "Do you mind if I come in?"

"Um... sure," she offered and stepped back.

Why in the world would Shadow wand to come and visit her? It wasn't like they were all that good of friends. Amy had never known quite what to think of the enigmatic black hedgehog; on the one hand, she respected and saw the good in him... on the other, she'd seen him do horrible, violent things. And besides, Shadow had an somewhat strained relationship with Sonic as the two butted heads often and rarely saw eye to eye, and Amy was very firmly on Sonic's side.

But still - if he wanted to come in and talk, she wouldn't deny him. Knowing Shadow, there was probably a reason. Amy was just hoping it wasn't bad.

Amy lingered at the edge of the living room, readjusting Chase, who was squirming in her arms. "Um, can I get you something to drink, or -"

Shadow shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

Amy nodded and sat down. Shadow hesitated before following suit, his intense red gaze regarding Amy the whole time. He watched her lovingly look at her children, and that made Shadow feel a bit worse. How could Sonic cheat on Amy? He shook his head, and suddenly noticed that there was no blue hedgehog coming around the corner questioning his presence. Of course, _he_ wasn't home.

"So... what's up?" Amy asked, smiling friendly.

Shadow took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to approach this. He figured it would be better to question Amy a little on Sonic's activities to see if that could provide any more hints to this situation.

"How are you and Sonic doing?" he asked what would have been a normal topic.

Amy furrowed her brow, wondering if Shadow just wanted to talk. "We're fine. He's been great, actually. Sonic's been helping me with the kids, he comes home every night, and he's been incredibly supportive."

Shadow watched her expression carefully. "I'm not trying to pry, Amy, but is he just around during the evenings?" He hated to have to ask her such a question.

The girl didn't seem bothered by it. "Yeah, he has a job now, so he's at work all day."

"Sonic has a job?" Shadow was a bit surprised at this news.

"Yes, you didn't know that?" Amy smiled a little, feeling more relaxed. "He's a mail man." Amy giggled softly. "It's still funny to me, even though he's been at it for a few weeks now."

Shadow didn't respond at first, pondering the situation. So... Sonic had gotten a job, to help support his family. While that was news to Shadow, it hardly surprised him: Sonic would do such a thing. But still, it was hard for him to wrap his brain around Sonic being tied down to a family, the way he was now, especially on so short of a notice. Him and Amy hadn't planned on becoming parents, to Shadow's knowledge... and if they had, it couldn't have been all that thought out, as they were both teenagers. Knowing Sonic, either way was likely.

But still, now that he thought about it, everything was coming together now concerning the Rouge situation. Being a mail carrier was job that more than likely didn't have fixed hours; and Sonic could be done with it rather quickly. And since Sonic was literally running around all day, who's to say he wouldn't make a random stop at Rouge's house when he passed by it to deliver her mail?

He took another sigh and let his eyes fall to the blue and lilac hedgehogs in Amy's arms. He was still saddened that this was happening to Amy... the poor girl. It was just one thing after another, first he got her pregnant, and now was barely home, and in his spare time cheating on his girlfriend...

It was so strange... but Shadow had seen what he saw. And his subsequent conversations with the girls involved only seemed to confirm his suspicions. It would be a waste of time to go to Sonic himself... and who knew where Sonic was at any given moment anyway.

"Well, Amy, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Shadow said coolly.

Amy gasped, her eyes getting big, realizing this was probably why he'd come in the first place. "Is it about Sonic?"

Shadow nodded solemnly. "Yes, I'm afraid it is."

A wave of fear washed over Amy, and she bit her lip. "Is he..._ okay_?"

"Yes, he's fine, it's not that. Now, I don't know for sure, but I have good reason to believe that he might be cheating on you."

Amy paled. "What? Sonic's cheating on me?"

Shadow's frown deepened.

"No..." she breathed, but as she looked into Shadow's red eyes, she saw no hint that he was kidding. "B-but... Sonic would never do that to me!" A twinge of anger flooded through her at the accusation.

"I can only tell you what I've seen: Yesterday, late afternoon, he was with another girl."

_But that wasn't... possible... _She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she set her mouth in a stubborn line. "No! I don't believe it!" she protested, not wanting to let that scenario, which was one of her greatest fears, take over her mind.

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Amy. But I have no reason or motivation to lie to you. I'm telling you this because I felt you had the right to know. I knew that it'd be better to have me tell you than for you to find out by seeing them yourself."

Despair started setting in with every subsequent word that Shadow uttered. _No... that's not possible... Sonic is really... cheating on me? But why... what did I do wrong... oh... how could he? He said he wouldn't... he said he loved me..._ "Who did you see him with?" Amy demanded, her temper flaring up.

"It doesn't matter," Shadow remained vague, knowing that revealing her identity would only add insult to injury. "I'm still very sorry that this happened."

Amy wilted. "Oh... but Shadow... he told me he wouldn't..."

Her face crumpled into tears, but Amy's hands were full of her children and so she couldn't wipe at her eyes. As if they could feel their mother's despair, the twins started whimpering as well, but Amy didn't have any strength to comfort them. _I can't believe he would do this to me... oh Sonic why..._ Amy had already harbored this suspicion, deep down, and now it was like her fears were coming true.

For a while Shadow just watched the tears fall from Amy's face, knowing there was really nothing that he could do. But her sobs became pretty intense, and he had to stand up and walk over to her, placing his hand on her shaking shoulder in comfort.

"I'm sorry, Amy."

And_ this_ was the exact moment that Sonic decided to come home.

Now, call it his innate ability to sense trouble and show up just in time, but as soon as Sonic entered the house and slipped the key into his glove, he knew something was up. That's what prompted him to come home a little earlier anyway. The sound of sobbing hit his ears, and even more adrenaline flooded his system, fueling his feet towards the living room. There he saw - WHAT? Amy crying her eyes out, yes, but **_Shadow_**, his hand on her shoulder? Oh, if that_ faker_ had bent _one quill _of hers out of shape...

Not thinking and rushing in per usual, Sonic immediately jumped at the red and black hedgehog.

"What have you done to Amy?" he yelled, sending his feet flying upwards to kick Shadow in the face. The black hedgehog was sent backwards, but immediately righted himself and lunged back at Sonic.

Amy gasped, "_Sonic!_"

Spinning himself out of the somersault kick, Sonic landed back on his feet but had to dodge a sudden punch that Shadow sent at his jaw. He was sent back as the contact grazed his chin, but bounced off the wall with his feet to lunge back at Shadow, trying to use his raw speed advantage. But Shadow merely dodged out of the way and raised his leg to kick Sonic as he passed by. Seeing that coming, Sonic turned in midair to quickly grab Shadow's foot and throw him towards the wall. Shadow used his hands to brace the impact and pushed himself backwards, tackling Sonic to the ground.

"Stop it,_ NOW_!" Amy roared, setting her wailing children down on the couch, and whipping out her very large hammer.

Hearing Amy's voice, Sonic paused, but that momentary lapse in concentration was all Shadow needed to firmly connect his fist to Sonic's face with a few tough punches in quick succession. Sonic groaned as he tasted his own blood, but didn't have time to retaliate as Amy suddenly got in between the two tussling hedgehogs, facing Sonic with pure fury as Shadow backed off, letting Amy deal with him.

**"_SOOOOONIIIIIIC_!" **

Amy was fuming, one hand clutching her hammer and the other clenched so hard it was shaking. Her chest was heaving from her quick breathing, and her face was beet red and narrowed in anger.

Oh no he was _dead_. Sonic would fight Shadow without much provoking, but he would never fight Amy... and her being angry at him was one of the few things that could actually make him shrink up in terror.

"A-amy..." he stuttered, sliding backwards as he felt blood start gushing out of his nose. What was she so mad about anyway?

"How could you do this to me!" she screamed at him, jumping up and swinging her hammer backwards to gain momentum.

Sonic gasped and tried to roll out of the way, but he was trapped and Amy's hammer thumped him square on the head, sending shocks of pain all the way down his body. "Wha-what did I do?" he asked, cringing from the pain and having to dodge yet another swing.

"OH, the nerve of you to ask me that question!" Amy snapped back, livid as she swung her hammer yet again. "You know what you did! Running around behind my back with another girl!"

"What! NO, I would never do that!" he protested.

"Sure you wouldn't! That's what you _always_ said! And now I've found you're cheating on me! You're going to regret this!" Amy connected her hammer on Sonic's legs this time, leaving at the very least a deep bruise.

"No, Amy, I promise, I wasn't-" Sonic winced in pain again.

Amy was too pissed off to listen to him, and swung her hammer once more. "Now, get out of this house! I never want to see you again, Sonic!_ I hate you_!"

And with that last blow, both physical and verbal, Sonic's heart was torn in two. He looked up at the livid girl, wondering what on earth he had done to deserve such vitriol from Amy, whom he only given his whole past 9 months to. "But..."

"OUT, Sonic! _NOW_!" Amy demanded, pointing towards the door furiously. "And if I see you again I will hammer you all the way to -"

_What did I do_... he looked at her with horrified jade eyes, but just then, he heard Shadow start muttering, "Chaos..."

_OH, that** faker!** This was all **his** fault! He told her -  
_

Sonic wasted no more time with thoughts and immediately jumped at Shadow to grab his arm, hoping to catch a ride, outraged as he snapped at Amy, "Fine, I'll go! Then you'll find out just how _much _I do around here!"

"OH if it wasn't for _you_, I wouldn't have kids in the first place, Sonic!" Amy screamed back at him right before he disappeared with Shadow during Chaos Control.

Now that she was left with just herself, Amy breathed heavily for a second, still fuming, when the sound of her babies crying hit her ears. They'd had to witness this whole violent scene. And that was too much. Amy's hammer slipped out of her trembling fingers, and the girl sunk to her knees, anguish filling her heart.

_Oh... why did he do that to me?_ Amy felt her face crumple into tears again. _Why... Sonic... I love you so much... and... oh, I didn't mean that I hated you but... why are you cheating on me...  
_

Chase and Sierra kept on wailing, eventually calling Amy back to her feet to gather them up in her arms. But she had no strength to comfort them... and so the three hedgehogs were just left alone, to cry together.

...~...

"...control." Shadow finished the phrase and reappeared on the edge of the city. He threw a broken, bruised, and bleeding Sonic off of his arm, but the blue hedgehog was back up in a second, getting in his face.

"Why the h- are you getting involved in _my_ business?" Sonic snapped at him.

"Challenging me in the state you're in would be a huge mistake," Shadow said sternly, though his eyes were narrowed. "I think you've done enough damage as it is."

"Oh, _I've _done enough damage. You're the one who's spreading lies about me!" Sonic was still outraged, and Shadow was a bit taken back. He'd never seen Sonic this angry before. True, he got frustrated and lost his patience easily... but this was really something else. _But why... it would make sense if he cared about Amy that he'd be this mad, but otherwise..._

"Amy deserved to know the truth. What was I supposed to think when I saw you with a girl like Rouge?"

Sonic's mouth dropped. What?_ That's_ what this was all about? Shadow had seen him and Rouge together and - his brow furrowed, for he was too mad to think straight. " 'a girl like Rouge?' Is that how you talk about your _friends_?"

"Is that how you treat _your _girlfriend, cheating on her behind her back?"

"I'm not cheating on her!" Sonic roared.

"Then what were you doing with Rouge yesterday?"

Sonic ripped into his back-quills and pulled out the velvet box, forcing it open to show Shadow the engagement ring. Shadow's red eyes got huge in realization.

_"This_. This is what I was doing," Sonic hissed, but at the sight of his potential gift for Amy, his anger immediately changed to heartache. "She was helping me pick this out for..." he trailed off and had to close his eyes, refusing to cry in front of Shadow.

_Oh._ Waves of remorse flooded Shadow's heart. _That's what this was about? Sonic was thinking about proposing... and had solicited Rouge's help in picking out Amy's ring? ... but why didn't Rouge just tell me that earlier? _... _because Sonic had probably told her to keep it a secre_t.

_Oh... what have I done. All I wanted was to make things right... and I ended up ruining everything..._

Meanwhile, Sonic was staring at the ring, his eyes filling up with tears as the blood from his wounds continued to gush. _OH... all that this ring represents... all I tried to do to make it right between me and Amy... it didn't work... It's not worth it. I wouldn't have worked anyway... I can't be tied down... it was just... never going to happen... Amy doesn't love me or trust me anyway... certainly not now...  
_

_I'll just run to the other side of the world and live freely and alone... just like I was born to do... I'm not meant for love..._

In a fit of anger and anguish, Sonic snapped the box shut and was about to hurl the ring as far as he could when he felt Shadow roughly grab his arm and stop it in mid-throw.

"Let_ go_ of me, you've already ruined this," Sonic said, wiggling under Shadow's grip.

"Don't do it, Sonic. You're just going to make it worse now."

"Like it matters," he said bitterly. "She said she _hates_ me, Shadow. And she never wants to see me again."

"Don't be an idiot, you know that's the last thing she wants. Listen, you still have a chance to make things right now. I'll talk with her, your friends will talk with her -"

"No!" Sonic said and finally wrestled out of Shadow's grip. He threw the ring box at the black hedgehog. "_You_ take it and propose to her, she trusts you more than she trusts me. And she doesn't want _me_ anymore. Thanks to _you_," he spat, and with that, Sonic took off at Mach 3, just wishing that this whole thing had never ever happened.

...A/N...

Whoa... me writing a fight scene? Man, that was fun... even though I had Sonic lose... I figured he'd jump to conclusions at seeing Amy crying with Shadow there, and they'd fight, and then Amy would lose her temper and go overboard, saying she hates Sonic when she really doesn't. (Any tips on the fight scene would be appreciated).

...just between you and me, I liked writing this chapter. It can be a fun challenge writing a character's POV that I don't usually do. I need practice with Shadow anyway. And this was the perfect role for him... he was just trying to do the right thing, but ended up screwing everything up. It really isn't his fault.

To ShadAmy fans - that's about all you're going to get out of me with those two. Shadouge fans - sorry, but this would take a whole different dynamic if Shadow and Rouge were together as well. To Knouge fans - you're welcome. To Taiream fans - your part is coming, don't worry. To SonAmy fans - ... heh... _Sorrrrry_. It's hurting me as well.

But... Oh jeez, what did I just _do_?

In case you guys haven't noticed already... I'm taking _a lot_ of risks with this story. And there are still more to come... _oh man..._


	7. All My Fault

Samantha27, Tyranifex, Delta 2-1, 01sonamy01, Jonman14, Kurdave125, Alyssacookie, Koollolly, Novus Umbra, SherryBlossom, GGUNDAMFAN34, fireworkmage, JackleTheKitsune, AutoKnight01, faithshipping4life, Mana the Cat Magician, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, IHeartSonAmy, Sonamyluver718, Kizziefoshnizzie, ZehHyperactiveAuthor, zeldaskeeper, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, poka, SkulY2K, SherryBlossom: Now you see why I don't write Shadow more often... *shakes head* Oh well. Any tips would help.

Oh, and I forgot to mention last chapter... it was Samantha27's idea for Amy to throw Sonic out of the house... but it was completely mine about Shadow and him thinking Sonic was cheating on Amy when he wasn't. Sorry I forgot to mention that. ^^'

Chapter 7: All My Fault

* * *

Cream the Rabbit sat down on the edge of her mother's loveseat, one arm draped around Amy's shaking shoulders, the other cradling an unusually quiet Chase. Only a few hours ago, the teenage mother had come into their house, crying and whimpering about how she'd found out Sonic had been cheating on her. This knowledge had shocked Cream: Sonic was cheating on Amy? Was that even possible?

"Why would he do that, Cream?" Amy asked, her eyes glittering with tears. "I feel so, _betrayed_... all this time... he didn't love me... and now he's gone... with another girl..."

Cream frowned more and hugged her sister closer, and the pink hedgehog rested her head on the rabbit's shoulder. "Why..."

"It's okay, Amy... please don't be sad... things will turn out okay..."

"Amy, honey, please try to calm down," Vanilla said for what seemed like the millionth time, and readjusted Sierra, who was in her arms and playing with the frills on her dress. "You don't have any proof that Sonic did anything."

"I know..." Amy sniffed and bit into her trembling lip. "But why would Shadow lie and tell me that? And..." Amy hesitated, but realized it'd be better to get it all out anyway. "I'd ... I'd always been worried that he was cheating on me... anyway... and so, hearing that was like... " she wiped her leaking nose on her sleeve. "... a confirmation."

Vanilla frowned. This whole thing seemed very unlikely to her, especially since Amy hadn't seen Sonic with another girl firsthand, and was going off a rumor from a very dubious source. "So... you're going to believe Shadow more than Sonic?" Vanilla asked gently.

Amy closed her eyes. That was the issue, wasn't it? _Should I have believed Shadow...? _she wondered. At the time, Amy had just been too horrified to even think that Shadow might not be telling the truth. She'd harbored that doubt and distrust of Sonic for a while; her faith in him had been pretty thin. And so one little hole had torn the whole darn relationship. Her rather quick and violent temper had played a role as well. "Oh, but Ms. Vanilla... why would Shadow-"

"No, dear," Vanilla said firmly. "Forget about Shadow. Think about Sonic. Has he ever acted suspicious? Has he been distant towards you? Or has he been showing you love this whole time?"

The pink hedgehog looked down at her hands, and suddenly felt a hint of remorse. _Oh, what if... Sonic wasn't really cheating on me? Then I would've snapped at him for no reason... _

"No..." Amy said. "Just... no... he is... argh, I _don't know_!" Amy started crying again, more from confusion than anything else. "But... he's_ gone_... and I want him _**back**.._.." she wailed. "I didn't mean it... I didn't..." her words were swallowed up in sobs.

Cream continued her soothing back rub, tears pricking at her own eyes for her best friend. What could she do, though? Sonic was either with his true girlfriend or on the other side of the world right now, and he was what Amy wanted.

_If only, there was something I could do... _Cream thought, and then an idea popped into her head. _**He** would know what to do._

With one arm still curved around Chase, Cream suddenly slid off her her place on the loveseat to slip away from the living room, putting Chase at her hip. Her small feet padded against the floor until they finally reached the kitchen, and the baby hedgehog reached over to grip one of her ears, trying to put it in his mouth.

"No Chase," she scolded her nephew gently and pulled away her long ear from his mouth.

Finally coming upon the phone, Cream's free hand took hold of it and started dialing up the numbers she'd embedded in her memory. The small kitchen phone was the only thing they had at the moment, though Cream was hoping to get a cell phone soon. But that thought didn't linger in her head long as the dial tone cut off.

"Hello?"

Cream's heart skipped a beat at his voice and she smiled in spite of the situation. "Hi Tails."

The fox on the other end blushed. Even over the phone he knew that voice. He turned on the visual part of his phone, hoping that he would be able to see her, but all he got was a blank screen and just audio. Dang, she must be calling from her house. One day, when he worked up the nerve, he'd install a video phone there.

"Hey Cream, what's up?"

"Can you come over?" her voice took an urgent tone.

"Ummmmm," Tails stuttered, still blushing. ".._.sure_... why?"

"Good. Because... oh have you heard? Sonic and Amy got into a huge fight."

"What?" Tails blinked. This certainly was news to him. Why, just yesterday Sonic had bought her the engagement ring. _Oh don't tell me he asked already and Amy turned him down... _"Why?"

Cream swallowed and lowered her voice even more. "Sonic has been cheating on Amy."

"What?" Tails repeated, this time much louder, and Cream cringed at the noise in her sensitive ears. "Cream, that's..._ ridiculous_. Sonic would never do that!"

"I know," Cream admitted. "But Amy can't stop crying. She said Shadow told her he saw Sonic with another girl yesterday."

"Another girl? Who was it?" Tails continued, still incredulous.

"She didn't say. But please, Tails... can you come over and assure Amy that Sonic wouldn't do that? She's just really upset because she yelled at Sonic and threw him out of the house."

Tails winced. That didn't sound good. Well, he'd just have to go over there and vouch for Sonic, then... assuming the hedgehog really was innocent, of which Tails had no doubt. Otherwise, why would he be buying Amy the engagement ring yesterday? Obviously he wouldn't do that if he was messing around behind Amy's back.

Why would Amy believe Shadow, though? And more importantly, how in the world would Shadow get the idea of Sonic cheating on Amy? Apparently he'd seen Sonic with another girl... but who? Who else would Sonic ever run around with...?

And that's when his blood froze.

"...Tails, you still there?"

_Oh no... Shadow must have seen Sonic with Rouge when we were looking at engagement rings! _Tails realized, and had to swallow_. Oh no! This isn't good! Oh... What did I do? This is **all my fault**! I'm the one who thought to bring Rogue along... and now...their relationship is completely ruined, all because of **me.**...  
_

Tails felt like he was about to cry when Cream called his name again.

"Tails?"

"Wha - Oh _Cream,_" he half-sobbed. "I'll be right over..."

He turned off the video phone and closed his eyes. _Oh, why why why** why** did I think to bring Rouge along. All she did was barely help us. And now Shadow saw us and got the wrong idea... and it's all my fault now that Sonic and Amy are broken up. Oh... I can't go over now, Amy's gonna kill me when she finds out... and Sonic probably hates me now...  
_

Little did the sobbing fox know that right behind him, a black hedgehog was materializing from Chaos Control. His red eyes scanned the workshop, and finally came to rest on Tails, who was shaking. Shoot, he must have already heard. Shadow had been hoping to catch him before the knowledge.

"Tails..." he ventured quietly, and the fox opened his blue eyes.

Immediately ashamed that he had broken down into tears, Tails wiped at his eyes and turned to face his visitor.

"...Shadow?"

The black hedgehog remained where he was, a frown deep set into his muzzle.

"You were the one who told Amy Sonic was cheating on her?" Tails suddenly said, remembering what Cream told him. His eyes narrowed in righteous anger. "Why..."

Shadow looked down at the floor, remorse etched on his face. "I have made a grave mistake. I felt that she deserved to know when I saw what I did; however I just ended up ruining their relationship."

"But you know that Rouge and him couldn't be dating... I was there, with them! Didn't you see me?" Tails protested. "You know Sonic would never, ever do that! Why would you even think that!"

Shadow didn't respond directly. "I know that now... I acted foolishly. However there is still a chance to make things right, if only for Amy."

Tails shook his head. "Then why did you come to me first?"

Shadow produced the ring box out of his back-quills. "He threw this at me in his haste," was all Shadow said as he handed it over to Tails, who gasped and eagerly received it.

Tails opened it and sighed in relief at seeing the ring still in tact.

"If we show this to Amy, it will be proof of Sonic's_ real_ intentions," Tails muttered to himself, but then questioned the thought.

His stomach turned in indecision as he remembered his promise to Sonic, not to tell Amy. _But haven't things changed now? _"At the same time... won't that just make her feel worse, if we show it to her?" Tails wondered out loud. "I mean, if she's already thrown him out of the house... then it will be a double blow..."

"But then she will know that he wasn't being unfaithful, and will forgive him when he comes back," Shadow added, sure of that last phrase. "You hold onto it, though... I've done enough damage here."

"You're bowing out?" Tails asked, a little angry but not about to disagree with Shadow.

"No, I plan to go with you, if just to tell Amy that I was mistaken. But I felt that you would be able to vouch for Sonic as well. She'll listen to you."

Tails nodded, and closed the ring box, very conscious of what exactly he held in his hands. What this ring represented was worth far more than it's price in diamonds.

"What about Sonic? Do you think he'll come back?"

Shadow nodded slightly. "He acted in haste and ran away, as usual, but he won't be able to stay away for too long. But we don't have much time... I must undo what I've done," Shadow said and pulled out his cyan Chaos Emerald.

"Let's go, Shadow," Tails said, grabbing the hedgehog's arm. But even as they disappeared using Chaos Control, Tails couldn't help but still feel guilty.

...~...

"Amy, I'm here to tell you I've made a grave mistake," Shadow admitted as he looked into her sad forest green eyes. Seeing the girl so upset because of him was hard for even Shadow to take. He had always had a soft spot for Amy, even though he knew it wasn't romantic.

Romance was something he'd given up on long ago.

"I apologize. I did see Sonic and another girl together, but I found that nothing inappropriate happened between them. I acted without getting all the facts. I'm sorry that I caused so much pain to both of you." He looked at Tails, who piped up.

"He's right, Amy. Sonic's not cheating on you; I_ promise_. He just had to ask Rouge's help for something-"

Her eyes flashed. "_Rouge_?"

Shadow closed his eyes, and Tails frowned. "Oh, you didn't know it was..." _Crap, I can't keep my foot out of my mouth can I...?_ "But Amy, I was with them. And..." he was about to tear up again. "...it was my idea to bring her along. Sonic agreed, but it was my idea. So please, be mad at _me_, not at him... Trust me, Amy, he _does _love you." Tails was about to reach for the engagement ring box, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

"What did Sonic need_ Rouge's_ help with?" Amy spat.

Shadow opened his eyes to look at Tails expectantly, silently imploring him to show her the ring, but Tails shook his head slightly. "I... I can't tell you, Amy, but please... I was with both of them. And nothing happened. Sonic was... doing... something for you."

He looked into Amy's still tear-filled eyes, and realized he was going to have to show her now. He had gotten tired of his internal debating and had a feeling he'd regret it if he didn't do this when he could.

Tails stuck his his gloved hand toward Amy, palm up as he slowly opened his fingers to show her a velvet covered box. Amy inhaled sharply in recognition, her heart stopping. _Is that... is that..._ Before she could get a good glimpse of it, Tails hid the box away again.

"Something you're going to love, Amy, and he asked for a girl's advice... though it was my idea. But please, Amy, don't be mad at Sonic. None of this is his fault... it's all_ mine_..." Tails trailed off and looked at the floor.

Tears were about to flow from Tails' eyes when he suddenly felt a small hand on top of his, gripping it for comfort. He traced the arm up to Cream's brown eyes and soft smile, and the tears stopped before they'd made their way out of his eyes. He turned his hand over and let two of his fingers intertwine with Cream's.

Amy's own tears stopped, but she still sniffed. Was that, what Tails had, what she thought it was? Sonic really... looking at engagement rings? Is that what was in that box...? Oh, but... "...so Sonic's not cheating on me?" she muttered.

Tails vigorously shook his head, and Shadow said, "No."

Amy stared into space for a minute, trying to process everything, before her face crumpled up again. "OOOOOH, he wasn't, and I..." another round of sobs started. "... and I told him I _hated _him... and I never wanted to see him... it's all my fault..." Amy couldn't finish, for she was now shaking so badly that Cream pulled her into another hug, though she was still holding Chase with one arm.

"It's alright, Amy..." Cream soothed her best friend. "Sonic will come back... he knows you don't really hate him..."

Shadow suddenly stood up, knowing there wasn't any more to do here. "I will go look for Sonic... hopefully I can work things out with him as well. Chaos Control," he muttered and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Good luck with that," Tails muttered, though he was still watching Cream and wondering how the girl could have so much strength; to be able to hold and comfort her best friend, and himself, and hold her nephew so close as well. She was a pretty awesome girl.

A large boom suddenly rocked the whole house, throwing the inhabitants way off guard. Amy, Vanilla, and Cream all screamed, and the babies started wailing. Yet another explosion rocked the planet from the distance, and Tails was up off of his seat.

"Eggman," he breathed, used to these sort of explosions and knowing where they would come from.

Oh crap... that _would_ be the time when Eggman would attack, when Sonic was nowhere to be found. But... it didn't matter. He squared his shoulders, his mind already in the cockpit of the Tornado. This would be up to him now... oh, if only he were braver...

He got up and set his face firmly. "Guys... be careful, stay here, I'll see what I can do..."

"Tails, you're going to go?" Cream asked him, her eyes huge in fear. "Alone?"

The fox nodded. "I have to Cream. Sonic's not here, and..."

"Wait Tails," Amy said and sniffed loudly, sending the mucous down her throat. She roughly rubbed at her still wet eyes. "You're not going alone."

"Amy, no." Tails refused, realizing what she meant. "You stay here, be safe... you're in no shape to go and fight." _And Sonic's gonna kill me **again** if I let you get hurt..._

Another huge explosion echoed in the background.

"No... I have to help." She insisted and stood up. "Sonic's not here, and... " she looked at both of her children. "Someone's got to protect them... and Sonic might show up..."

Amy felt her heart rip in pain, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to stand the fact that Eggman was attacking... and it might be the only way to get Sonic back.

_You're going to leave your kids, Amy...? _her conscious questioned.

_I don't have a choice..._

The teen mother looked at Vanilla and Cream, who each had one of her children in their arms. "Would you two take care of them...?" she felt a little awful.

Vanilla nodded softly. "Be careful, you two."

"I think that'd be defeating the point..." Tails muttered, and winced at yet another explosion. He had to get out there, very soon... without Sonic they didn't have much hope, though...

First Amy went over to Vanilla, giving her quasi-mother a hug, and then planted a kiss on Sierra's forehead, before repeating the process with Cream and Chase.

"Please, take care of them..." Amy pleaded again, looking back at the twins with teary eyes once again.

"We will... go stop Eggman, Tails and Amy," Cream said.

Amy nodded and then followed Tails out the door. They hadn't gone even a hundred feet before Amy had to stop running. She looked back at Cream's cottage and bit her lip.

"Tails, I just abandoned my children," Amy realized, frozen to the spot.

The fox turned, but had to cringe at yet _another_ sound of an explosion, which was louder this time. The look of fear on the mother's face got Tails thinking, wondering if this very reason was why, for the longest time, women were not allowed to fight. But he wisely decided to hold his tongue on that thought.

"Just like Sonic..." Amy continued, and wanted to cry again.

Tails shook his head. "Amy, don't second guess yourself. Please? C'mon... without Sonic around... it'll be up to you, me, and Knuckles... we don't have time..." he tried to reason.

"No," Amy said and shook her head. "I... I can't leave them... " she insisted and ran back towards the house.

The cottage was soon darkly eclipsed by a gargantuan airship descending on it, ripping the roof off and throwing it to the side. Amy hit the deck to shield herself from any flying debris, but the shingles and wood landed on the other side of the house. A large protruding claw from the air ship then entered from the top, reaching inside to pull out the four inhabitants: two rabbits and two hedgehogs.

"NO!" Amy cried in despair for her children. "Sierra! Chase! NO! Come baaack!"

"Cream! Vanilla!" Tails called out from behind her, looking up as the airship floated away, leaving evil laughter in its wake.

"Oh ho ho! Look what we have here!"

"NO!" Amy cried out again, one hand reaching up towards the airship which was quickly flying away.

Her already flooded eyes were filling up to the brim once again, over-spilling down her face and muzzle. First, Sonic had been taken from her because of a misunderstanding... and then she'd said some untrue things to her love in anger. And now... she'd abandoned her own children, only for them to be taken as well...

A sudden bout of rage bubbled up in Amy's body, and the girl let out an angry yell that almost shook the earth to its foundations. It was the cry of a mother whose babies had been messed with.

"EGGMAN! You're going to PAY FOR THIS!" Amy screamed and pulled out her hammer before turning to run with Tails to scramble to get the Tornado ready.

...~... Half an Hour Prior ...~...

About a few hundred thousand feet above the ground flew a large, egg-shaped, souped up, flying fortress. And in control of this airship, was a somewhat jolly, fat man dressed in a red suit, cackling, "Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

But don't let that fool you... this man is no Santa Claus. Though he might be delivering a few presents later today.

"Oh yes... I have finally created the perfect weapon. And the best part? It's so very personal!" Eggman cackled once again as he talked to himself.

The evil doctor typed a few commands into his keyboard, his cobalt blue glasses flashing as the eyes behind them looked over info on the said weapon. It was a means to an end, this new creation. It wouldn't make him world dictator immediately, but it would put him well on his way to get there. By taking out his greatest opposition.

The other day, while looking through some scrap metal of one of the (many) old projects that Sonic had destroyed, Eggman had chanced upon a piece that had some of the hedgehog's blood spattered across it. That's when he had gotten the brilliant idea to use the blood to gather Sonic's DNA and create a missile that was designed to scan all the world for Sonic's unique genetic pattern, and track him like a seeker. But no matter how fast the hedgehog ran, he wouldn't be able to avoid it. The missile would explode on contact, making the hedgehog no more of a nuisance.

Brilliant.

He knew.

"Well, let's get this party started," Eggman cackled and began typing in more commands. His head was already spinning, dreaming about the world that would soon be under his command. "Oh Sonic, Sonic, Sonic... where could you be?" he muttered, watching the DNA radar do it's thing across the monitor.

"TARGET NOT FOUND IN FOUR THOUSAND MILE RADIUS," the computer spat back at him.

"DRAT! Where is that blasted hedgehog! He's never around when I actually want him to be!" Eggman yelled out, frustrated with his machine. He slammed his fist down on the computer, when an idea suddenly struck him. "Oh, he'll always come around when I start trying to do anything..." a smirk crawled up his face. "So, I guess I'll just have to get_ busy_."

The doctor started steering his ship off course a little, allowing the radar to continue to search, but let a few bombs fall out of the ship, exploding on the ground below. It was no big deal; he was flying over rural, uninhabited areas right now.

"C'mon, Sonic! Show up to be the hero now!"

"SIMILARITY TO CREATURE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FOUND IN VICINITY," the computer suddenly emitted.

"Similarity?" Eggman asked with surprise, but didn't have to question further, as the computer spelled it out for him.

"50% MATCH TO CREATURE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. TWO CASES."

"50%?" Eggman questioned, though his IQ was high enough to figure out the only thing that could mean. _No... it couldn't be... did Sonic really... _Eggman found himself absolutely _stunned_ at this knowledge. But then, out of nowhere, came laughter. OH, this was too perfect. Almost better than Sonic himself.

"Oh, ho ho ho ho ho! Sonic, starting a family and not telling me... you have just made the biggest mistake of your LIFE!" Eggman cackled, and guided his ship towards the fifty percent match, only to capture not only two way-too adorable baby hedgehogs, but two rabbits as well.

...A/N...

ARGH why didn't Tails just show her the ring?... I thought about that for a while... debated with myself, danced around it... and decided that hinting at it would be the best thing to do.

Yes, I am also_ very_ uncreative, with the whole Eggy thing. (And a DNA radar... isn't really possible [is it]... just go with it) But I needed a way to get Sonic to come back... and a way for Eggy to realize that Chase and Sierra are really Sonic's kids. What, don't tell me this wouldn't be an issue sooner or later... I'm making this story as realistic as possible, trying to hit all the bases... and Eggman hasn't gone anywhere, even if Sonic is being all "I can outrun my problems..."

Oh, and wow... I actually went one whole chapter without writing from Sonic's POV even once.. wow... that's something I haven't done in... *looks back at previous stories* two months...? What can I say, he's my favorite... but don't worry, I'll be making up for that.

Chapter 8 is going to take awhile, because I'm not even sure what I want to happen... I know where I want to end up, but it's the getting there that's the hard thing. Plus I'm now spending every other evening watching incredibly tall men run up and down a court and throw around an orange sphere... Oh, and I got a lot of college work to do at the moment as well. Yes, SilverDawn has a life... but hopefully I can spend at least a little time each day trying to tie the knot, though it seems like it's just getting more and more unraveled... it might make for a stronger knot, in some sort of odd way.


	8. Flesh and Blood

Jonman14, zeldaskeeper, AutoKnight01, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Kurdave125, 01sonamy01, Tyranifex, Novus Umbra, poka, CherrletheChicken, ZehHyperactiveAuthor, Mana the Cat Magician, rugtugba, Kizziefoshnizzie, Delta 2-1, IHeartSonAmy, bk00, Sonamyluver718, GGUNDAMFAN34, JackleTheKitsune, SkulY2K.

Chapter 8: Flesh and Blood

* * *

A fury of cobalt wind, long legs, speedy sneakers, and unruly quills made it's short but unmistakable presence known as it raced across the world, upsetting leaves that had fallen and the carpet of flowers spread out across the yellowing grass. Sonic had been running across the world for the past few hours as fast as his legs would take him, exploring old haunts and hangouts. Normally he would have a grin growing up his muzzle as he enjoyed the pure thrill of running his heart out, but this time... something was missing. He wasn't quite getting the joy and adventure and pleasure that usually came from rolling around at the speed of sound.

_It's because huge part of your heart is still back home._

At this thought, Sonic's legs pumped faster, the sonic boom he left in his wake grew louder, thundering across the world that he was leaving behind.

And then quite suddenly, there was silence, save for the gentle sound of breathing that contrasted so heavily with the previous extreme energy.

_It's been a while since I've been by here. _

His red sneakers had come to rest right on the edge of a spoon-shaped lake, their soles sinking a little into the moist mud, but came short of getting wet. The surface of the lake was scattered with multi-colored leaves that had fallen from their source: a deciduous forest that bordered the lake, as if the trees kept the water at bay. The trees themselves were streaked with color, reds and oranges that stood out against the baby blue sky in the background. Sonic's eyes scanned the hazy reflection of the brightly colored trees in the lake.

Here, on this side of the world, where he'd come as his refuge, it was autumn, when the leaves were dying quite beautifully. Fall.

As opposed to the other side of the world... where it was still spring, and trees were starting to bloom with new life, and new babies were being born...

_The other side..._

He sighed, and the warm air from his lungs created almost visible exhaust in the crisp air._ Do you really think you can stay out here, Sonic?_

Recognizing that voice, Sonic took off again without warning. He'd spent the better part of an hour running from that voice, those memories... things he'd have to bury now. He was going to leave all of that behind... and go back to how he used to live: freely, irresponsibly, without any cares or obligations. He was back to his old habits, his old life... before he'd gotten tangled up in love and a family...

Okay, so call him a fugitive. He preferred the word... _drifter_.

That was how he was built. Sonic was the wind incarnate. So... he was just going back to his roots.

_Don't be silly, you know it's only a matter of time until you go back. You have a home now. A family. You have a girl, and two children...  
_

_No, _he thought firmly, turning direction so that he was now running against a headwind. The breeze was almost a joke of an obstacle; Sonic could outrun it in his sleep. _It doesn't matter... I can't go back now... It was never going to work out anyway. _

_But you still love them, Sonic. You know you do. _

_What does it matter what I feel? Amy doesn't want me. She hates me. She hammered the crap out of me. She said she never wants to see me again... even after everything I've done for her... I gave her everything! Everything! And yet, she trusted Shadow more than me!** Shadow**. Just about anybody could go around saying any bad thing about me... and she would believe them._

_What more could I have done for her? I've bent over backwards for that girl! I mean, sure I've made more than my share of mistakes, but hey... I've paid my dues and done my penance for them. Besides, she told me she forgave me and wasn't going to hold it against me anymore! ...so much for that, huh. **Huh**. I've gotten a job, taken responsibility, moved in with her, shown her and our twins nothing but love... and I was even about to **marry** the girl..._

He inhaled sharply and had to close his eyes in pain, forcing his body to stop running so he didn't have to watch where he was going. Sonic stood there, his lip trembling as he bit into it with his small fangs, jade eyes quivering in foreshadowing of tears.

_What did I do... to deserve this... she still doesn't trust me... and she thinks that I've been running around behind her back... why would I do that, she should know that I love her and I'm not going to leave her... oh... _

_This goes way back, Sonic. It's not just because you got her pregnant, it goes farther back than that. Before then... you two weren't exactly on the best of terms. You'd always ran from her in the past, hardly spent time with her, treated her like dirt...  
_

_Oh c'mon... I've matured so much since I was fifteen! I don't do that anymore. Can't she give me a little bit of credit? How much more do I have to do for Amy?_

_As much as it takes. You know that. You love her, and you can't leave the twins behind because of an argument.  
_

_I can't do much more, man... I couldn't take it if I went back to her and she yelled at me and said she hated me again. I couldn't... _

_You're giving up? You've fallen in love with this girl, and you two share two children, and you're giving up because of one misunderstanding? That doesn't sound like you._

_I know_... He steeled his expression and clenched his fists, even as unfamiliar tears were dripping down his face in protest. _But it hurts to be rejected and distrusted, still. After everything that I've done... Amy doesn't love me... _

_Oh, but she has to love me... She couldn't have meant it... she's been loving me this whole time... and __she just lost her temper... right? _

_And so did I._ He remembered with a shudder. _I never do that... I always take things in stride. I was acting unlike myself, I hardly ever lose my cool... I've just, never cared enough about something to get angry about it... _

_...until now. _

Sonic realized this with a start, and had to lift his hand to messily wipe at his tears.

_So... it's because I care so much that I got so angry... before this... I'd never really **cared** about anything before... I had things and people that I liked, but I'd never really... felt so strongly about anyone as much as I do about Amy. I've never loved anyone the way I've loved her. Her and Chase and Sierra...  
_

_I love Amy Rose. And... _his head spun around, just now taking in his surroundings - a desert. The intense heat of the unforgiving sun bore down on the hazy monotony of the endless sands. This was where all of his wanderings would ultimately lead. To the lonely, empty desert.

_And I can't stay here. I can't go back to how I used to live, freely and carelessly. I can't do it. I love Amy, and Chase and Sierra too much to leave them. Now that I have a love... I've been changed. My heart signs a new song now... Even if... she doesn't love me... then, I'll have to love her anyway. If just for the kids. _

The images of his progeny popped into Sonic's head, and the hints of a smile tugged at his lips as he thought about their adorable blue and lilac faces... they were so perfect. They represented the unbreakable connection between himself and Amy... and Chase and Sierra were the reasons that him and Amy had gotten together in the first place. The twins were his own flesh and blood; they were a part of him.

Yes, it was because of them that Sonic found his feet start swinging again, aimed towards home. It was because his heart was too full of love to leave them. It was because he loved Amy too much to leave her alone...

So he was going to go back... and show Amy that he really did love her, and that he hadn't been unfaithful. Quite the contrary.

...~...

Two jaggedly pointed wings guided a dressed-to-kill bat downwards from the baby blue sky. Her teal eyes widened in glee as she saw her two most favorite things in the world down below: a gigantic, somewhat gaudy, brilliant bright green Master Emerald. And it's guardian: a stoic yet hot-tempered, incredibly strong and handsome echidna.

The former being preferred, of course.

But the latter was leaning up against the Master Emerald, muscular arms crossed against his chest, obscuring his quarter-moon birthmark. His purple eyes were also closed, but Rouge could see those gorgeous violet orbs in her sleep. They were more lovely than a room full of amethysts... if only she could stare into them forever.

_Well, Knuckie sure looks bored_, the bat thought as her high heels made contact with the stairs leading to the Master Emerald altar. _I could give him a little excitement. He's fun to mess with... and besides, I've always wondered why I think about him so much..._

Knuckles' eyes snapped open at the sound, and upon seeing his revealed eyes, Rouge's heart skipped. But before she could even say hello, a sneer appeared on Knuckles' face. _Oh, dang, it's Rouge._

"No, you can't have the Emerald, now go away."

Rouge pouted a little. "Oh Knuckie, it really is no surprise why you have no friends if that's how you treat everyone who comes up here."

"Oh no, I save this treatment just for _you_," he retorted. His eyes narrowed in anger as he looked at Rouge's way too beautiful face and the tight outfit barely covering her curves. Man, why did this girl have to be so hot? She made him feel so odd, and yet... he couldn't give into her. She only wanted his Emerald after all.

"Oh really? Now I feel flattered to know that I'm_ special_ to you," Rouge said and started walking closer to him, a flirty expression on her face. Rouge was now only about a foot away from him, and the two were breathing the same air.

Knuckles felt that inner panic that always surfaced when Rouge came around mount... but he didn't like being scared. And so he dealt with it the way he typically did.

His fists balled up and he bared his fangs. "Don't. Come. A step. Closer," he warned in a low, growling voice. "I'd rather not hurt you, but I won't hesitate to."

Rouge's head suddenly titled toward the sky and she let out a laugh before staring deeply into Knuckles amethyst eyes. "Ha! You hurting a lady... you wouldn't _dare_." The bat reached out a hand to touch his chest, tracing his birthmark. "You're to much of a _good boy _to do that..."

She was teasing him, taunting him, testing him... and that got Knuckles' blood boiling like nothing else. He pulled back his fist as if to punch her, and Rouge withdrew, kicking her leg up to meet his fist before it could reach her. The two stayed in that rather awkward position for a few seconds, pushing against the other's strength.

"I'm warning you, Rouge..." Knuckles said. "Just step away and-"

"KNUCKLES!"

The hum of a biplane accompanied the shout, and Knuckles looked up, only to see a rather famous red plane zoom by. Tails looked at him with concerned blue eyes from the cockpit, while Amy gaped at him from the seat in the back. Knuckles pushed Rouge's leg off of his arm and turned to his friends.

"What is it?" he called back to them.

"Eggman! We need your help, now!"

"Great." He looked back at Rouge just a smirk appeared on the bat's face. "Is Sonic already there?"

Tails shook his head vigorously. "Sonic's not around, Knuckles, it's up to us now..."

"Wonderful," he muttered again. Seriously, why did he always have to be the guy that cleaned up Sonic's mistakes?

The echidna was about to jump onto the Tornado when he looked back at Rouge. There was no way he was leaving the Master Emerald alone while she was around. Oh, but what could he do? If Eggman was attacking, he'd have to go help, but he was not about to leave Rouge with his most precious possession... Knowing what he had to do, in one quick motion, he suddenly pulled Rouge into a hug, causing the bat to gasp, and jumped onto the wing of the biplane.

"What are you-" Rouge asked, suddenly very conscious of how close Knuckles was to her... she was inhaling his powerful scent. His strong arms were wrapped around her back, firmly but not rough enough to damage her delicate wings. The bat found herself almost nuzzling up to him, not wanting him to let go of her...

Without another word, Knuckles retracted his arms, blushing profusely as he slid away. "C'mon, Tails, let's go."

The biplane started zipping away, and Rouge's awe faded as she looked back at how red Knuckles was. It really _was_ his color.

"Oh, and here I thought you were getting all romantic..." Rouge said slyly, sliding over to get closer to him.

"You wish... I just didn't want you to take my Emerald while I was gone," Knuckles said, refusing to look at her.

"Yes, that's why you're _blushing_ so much. Oh, and I think you mean _my_ Emerald, Knuckie."

"Would you two_ shut up_?" Amy snapped, already tired of their banter. Her mind was going a ton of different ways right now, focused on Sonic's absence and what in the world Eggman could be doing to her poor babies...

Rouge rolled her eyes at Amy, but said, "So where's your boyfriend, again? Ditching us?"

Amy would have been up on Rouge in an instant with her hammer drawn if Tails hadn't interrupted. "Look, there's Eggman's ship!"

The pink hedgehog turned her attention away from the bat to more important matters. Indeed, Eggman's gargantuan ship was flying up ahead, holding some very precious cargo.

"Tails, can you speed us up?" Amy asked desperately.

"I'm trying, Amy..."

"Hmph, it doesn't look like he's attacking..." Knuckles mused as he watched the ship just float along.

Amy turned to the echidna. "He's got Chase, Sierra, Cream, and Vanilla in there," she explained. "Which is_ why_ we need to hurry _up_!" Amy pestered Tails again.

"I'm_ trying_, Amy..." the fox repeated and shifted the lever into a higher gear, already feeling like Sonic was hurrying him along... but he couldn't think about that now...

"You say he_ kidnapped_ those four, including the babies?" Knuckles tried to confirm. "That doesn't sound like the doctor."

"He can use them for ransom and a bargaining tool,_ genius_" Rouge said.

Knuckles felt really dumb for a minute there, but tried to save face. "I know that, but I was trying to think of a good way to get in there and rescue them. We'd have to glide but..." his eyes turned to Amy, nodded, and then to Tails. "Tails, d'ya think you can keep Egghead busy for a few minutes while we get them outta there?"

"I'll try..." the pilot said, suddenly unsure of himself, just like he usually was without his big brother.

"Alright then." The echidna stood up on the wings, feeling the air rush through his quills, and turned to Amy. "Amy, you get on my back. We're gonna glide over to the airship when Tails brings us close enough._ Batgirl_ here can fly, but you can't."

Amy nodded and then climbed onto the wings next to Knuckles. It was a little terrifying being up on the wings so high up with hardly anything to hang onto and the wind whipping ferociously by her. Amy remembered she used to worry so much at seeing _Sonic_ in such a dangerous pose...

The girl swallowed that painful thought and wrapped her arms around Knuckles' torso, resting her head against his back underneath his dreadlock quills, wishing beyond wish that it was Sonic that she was holding onto right now...

"Hang on, Amy," Knuckles said and leaped forward, extending his arms to glide across the small chasm between the Tornado and Eggy's ship.

His claws wedged into the metal and he started climbing up the metallic exterior, trying to find a good place to enter.

Meanwhile, Rouge was watching this whole thing with no small amount of envy. _Why does **she** get to hold onto him_? she silently grumbled and swooped after the echidna and hedgehog. Now the tables were turned, and for the first time in Rouge's life... _she_ was actually _jealous_ of_ Amy Rose_.

...~...

"C'mon, c'mon, where is that _rotten_ hedgehog!" Eggman yelled, getting very frustrated with his true Sonic Radar.

He knew that it wasn't broken, since it led him to the hedgie-babies, but still... where was Sonic? Was he really out adventuring and goofing off right now? How did that hedgehog always manage to go against his plans, even if it involved _not_ being around to stop him?

Either way, Eggman was confident that Sonic was a goner now. Now that he had the hostages, he might not even need to use the specific seeker missile. That could be saved for a later date, just in case another one of his plans for world domination didn't work out... it would be plan B, just take out Sonic and finally win. The doctor was getting tired of losing... it'd been more than nine years since him and Sonic had started this little game, with the hedgehog winning practically every match.

But that didn't matter now. Eggman had Sonic's own flesh and blood at his disposal... and that would get the hedgehog practically groveling at his feet. Oh, that would be a wonderful sight... ah, he could just see it now, Sonic on his knees, begging to let go of his _precious babies..._

Speaking of that... babies implied a mother. Could it be that pink brat...? Eggman cackled. Oh, this just got better and better. Now, if only his darn radar didn't keep coming up empty...

He watched it for a few more fruitless seconds before...

"TARGET, CREATURE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, FOUND," the computer spat and gave coordinates.

"Yes!" Eggman shouted in victory. "Yes, you're finally mine, you pesty little hedgehog!"

After watching the radar blip zoom across the monitor and get closer and closer, the doctor started steering his ship in the direction of the speeding hedgehog, hoping to meet up with him. Though he was sure that once Sonic spotted his ship, he was sure to stop. After about a half an hour of tracking, Eggman had finally met back up with his closest rival.

"Oh Sonic!" he shouted over his intercom, looking down at the blue rodent. "It sure has been _a while_, hasn't it?"

"Eggman," Sonic breathed with contempt. Why did Eggman always have to get in the way whenever he was trying to do something? Yet another reason that he had to come back... the evil doctor was still lurking around, and Sonic had a bit of an obligation to stop him. Oh well, he'd just kick his butt and then go back and see Amy...

"What do you want?" he shouted back at his nemesis.

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Why Sonic, now I feel a bit left out." The doctor pouted, but manipulated his controls to show his four hostages to Sonic. "You started a family, and why wasn't I invited to the baby shower?"

All the blood drained from Sonic's face as he suddenly saw the four captives in Eggman's clutches. Two scared-looking rabbits were holding onto both of his children, inside a transparent pod shaped structure up in the airship. _Chase! Sierra! Ooooh no he **didn't**... that's what Eggman was up to while I was gone? OH, the nerve..._ Sonic's fists balled up at his sides as his teeth clenched in anger. Oh if Eggman tried anything on Chase or Sierra or the rabbits... he swore on_ Chaos_ he was gonna go _Dark._

"Aren't they so adorable, Sonic? I must say, I've never seen more lovely little hedgehogs in my life. You should be awful proud of them!" _  
_

Sonic's blood was boiling now. Nothing set him off more than seeing innocent people hurt. Nothing. "OH! Eggman! If you touch them, I will tear off your mustache and shove it -"

"Oh, struck a_ nerve_, have we? I wouldn't try anything if I were you. You see, the only reason I found out these two adorable baby hedgehogs were yours is because I've engineered a missile designed specifically for you..."

The doctor started going on and on, gloating about all of the features, but Sonic found his mind not comprehending a word he said. His mind had slowed to a crawl, and his eyes couldn't leave the cerulean and lavender babies that were in Vanilla's arms. And Cream was there too, clutching onto her mother fearfully.

Oh, how could Eggman prey on some of the weakest and most defenseless people he knew... and his own flesh and blood? How could he be so cruel and heartless? Sonic made eye contact with Cream, and the girl looked so scared that he almost lost it right then and there. Then a thought dawned on him... where was _Amy_? Oh, had Eggman already done unspeakable things to her? There wouldn't be any way that she would leave Chase and Sierra otherwise, unless...

"...and so you see, Sonic, all I have to do is press this button and you are doomed. There's no outrunning this missile, as it can travel well above what you're capable of running at. And it will explode on contact. Not to mention I have your precious children aboard. So if I were you, I'd listen v_ery carefully_ to my demands."

The doctor watched as Sonic's trademark cobalt fur and quills took on a more navy blue color as the hedgehog started to shake with anger. Normally this sight of Dark Sonic would cause Eggman to panic, but the doctor was calm. He had the trump card.

"Oh Sonic, it seems you do really care about these little creatures. But before I get into the specifics of what I'll ask of you... I _have_ to ask... who is the mother?"

"EGGMAN!"

An angry yet unmistakable voice suddenly echoed from inside of his own ship, so loud that even Sonic heard it. What, were they in his ship as well? Eggman immediately panicked and deployed the missile, and the projectile zoomed towards it's target.

"Amy..." Sonic said, shedding some of his navy fur upon hearing his love was okay... or maybe not. But he didn't have time to go see her, as he suddenly became quite aware of the seeker missile that was hurling straight for him.

_Oh crap..._

The thought passed quickly and Sonic took off in a burst of speed, hearing the missile zooming behind him. His mind was spinning not quite as fast as his feet, and Sonic suddenly wished he'd actually paid attention to Eggman's speech earlier, if only to know what he was up against. This was obviously no ordinary seeker missile... Sonic himself was clipping at a good speed, and could see the missile as clear as day behind him, and not blurry along with the rest of his surroundings. How to get this thing off of his tail? If he made quick movements, he would be wasting time, as it would simply follow suit but cut corners and then hit him.

Usually what he'd do with a seeker missile was to get it to run into something else, ideally Eggman's own airship, but then there was the risk that it would end up hitting the captives which were in there somewhere. And at the rate this missile was going, Sonic would have to go faster than he'd ever gone before to avoid it hitting him first.

Still trying to formulate a plan, Sonic found himself still running, dodging obstacles and thinking. Oh, what to do... what to do... His jade eyes were moving quickly, seeing all of the passing objects, and he was hearing the missile grow closer and closer behind him, gaining on him almost... when he suddenly saw a seemingly stationary black and red object skating next to him.

"_Shadow_..." he breathed, never before so glad to see his rival in his life. Not willing to waste words and his breath, Sonic turned his head a little to refer to the missile on his tail, but Shadow had already seen it.

Still skating next to him, Shadow pulled out his cyan Chaos Emerald, clutching it tightly in his hand, feeling the power course through his body. Focusing all of his energy on the missile, Shadow sent a blast of Chaos energy at it, causing the missile to explode on contact, leaving Sonic safe and scot-free. Breathing in relief, Sonic stopped running and turned to face his hero... well, sort of, anyway.

"Thanks Shadow," Sonic said gratefully and raced off, shaking his head. This was _not_ how he had expected his and Shadow's next meeting to be... But still, there was no time to waste. He had to get everyone out of harm's way. And if Eggman had harmed one of his children or Amy... oh, he had another thing _coming. _

...~...

Meanwhile, Amy was swinging her hammer violently and downing the security robots on Eggman's ship left and right, fueled by her almost desperate desire to get her twins and extended family back. Fighting behind her were Knuckles and Rouge, cleaning up the robots that she had left behind. Apparently Tails was still flying around battling Eggman, trying to distract the doctor on the outside front while they snuck around from the inside.

"Amy, do you know where they are?" Knuckles asked just as he was dislodging his fist from the alloy metal of a robot.

"I'm still looking," the girl called back, and raced around another corner.

_Oh, please let them be okay... if Eggman's done something to any of them I don't know what I'll do..._ Amy thought, when the intercom suddenly turned on, blasting Amy's ears and almost knocking her to the ground.

She was about to grumble again, but when she heard the doctor address _Sonic _in his speech... her heart stopped. _Was he really back? OH... _

"Sonic," Amy breathed and felt all of her bittersweet love bubble up in her heart. She turned and suddenly all she wanted was to run to a window and see if it was really _him_, if he'd really come back to her...

Rouge grabbed her arm. "Amy, c'mon, there's no time!"

"But-" the confused girl protested.

"Rouge is right," Knuckles insisted, not believing he'd just said that. "We have to get those four out of here, and then we can deal with Sonic."

After a moment, Amy agreed, and they continued through the halls, searching desperately for their kidnapped friends. The halls were mostly empty save for a few odd security robots... and the three fighters hoped that Tails was still outside distracting Eggman.

"There!" Knuckles suddenly pointed at the pod that was holding all four of them captive. They had to down a few more robots that were guarding the captives, but it was nothing that a Piko Piko Hammer, two fists, and Rouge's kick couldn't handle.

"Amy!" Cream suddenly yelled, seeing her friends finally coming to rescue her.

"We're coming Cream!" Amy said and shattered the glass holding the four of them in one swing.

All Amy wanted at that poing was to take her babies in her arms, but knew that they had to get out of here first.

"Tails, get your butt over here!" Knuckles growled into his wrist communicator.

"Where are you guys?" The fox asked back, as he was in the midst of dodging the lasers Eggman was sending his way. He'd seen Sonic run by, but Eggman had sent a huge tracking missile at him. Tails had wanted to intercept the missile, but it had been traveling too fast for him to follow in the Tornado. He was just hoping that Sonic was figuring out some way to deal with it...

"In the captive pod! We're about to jump out, so come and catch us!" Knuckles demanded.

"Alright, give me a second!" Tails called back and started making his way over to the escape pod in the airship. However, since Eggman had noticed that they were escaping, he was sending even more lasers his way.

Luckily for everyone, the hero had made his way back to enter the aerial fray.

"TAILS!" Sonic called up to his best friend, eager to get back in the action.

"Sonic," Tails breathed out a sigh of relief at seeing the hedgehog back in one piece, and swooped down for him to jump on the wings of the Tornado. Now feeling much more confident, Tails guided his plane over to the airship to help free the captives.

Knuckles grabbed Vanilla, who was still holding onto both twins, and half glided, half jumped for the Tornado. Amy held onto Cream as the rabbit-girl flapped her ears to guide them towards their ticket off of this airship, with Rouge following close behind.

As the seven of them entered the now-crowded Tornado, there was one who was leaving.

"Sonic!" Amy called out to him as he jumped onto the airship, and their eyes met briefly.

"_Amy..." _he breathed in relief, before gathering himself and and getting focused again. "You guys go ahead and get safe, I'll deal with Eggman."

"You sure?" Tails asked.

Sonic turned to the pilot. "Yes, I'll be right there," and with that he quickly made his way through the corridors to confront his nemesis one more time.

"Eggman," Sonic said with even more contempt than the first time as he approached the doctor.

It would be an understatement to say that the doctor was sweating upon seeing the angry father face to face. His missile had failed for some odd reason (where had all that Chaos Energy come from?) and he'd failed in keeping any of the ones he'd kidnapped... and how he was going to have to answer to Sonic... with no robots to back him up.

"I'll just say this once, okay?" Sonic was dead serious. "It's one thing to try and take over the world, but you start messing with my family it gets_ personal_. I'm telling you _right now_, if you mess with my family again, I will personally make you live to regret it. Understand?" Sonic hissed.

Eggman nodded vigorously, as he'd never seen Sonic this serious before. Never had Sonic made threats with him like this. It was then he realized he might have gone too far... or maybe he'd just found Sonic's biggest weakness. Either way, he had to save his skin right now. "OH yes, Sonic, you know I don't have the heart to kill anyone... I'll leave them alone now, it was all just fun and games, but I'd never hurt anyone... especially not those adorable babies you have... and your girlfriend either."

"You better not, Eggbutt," Sonic warned him. "I'll let you off this time, but you're not getting away with this next time."

And with that, Sonic left Eggman to whatever plan he was going to fail at next, and finally was able to go and make amends with his family.

...~...

The Tornado finally came to rest on the ground, and all of the crowded passengers hopped off, eager and glad thate they were all safe.

"Oh, my babies, my _babies," _Amy crooned, gathering both twins in her arms from Vanilla and hugging and kissing them ferociously. "I'm so glad both of you are okay now," she whispered and cuddled them as close to her as possible as she felt happy tears prick her eyes.

The twins' father had approached and was watching her from a distance, the hint of a smile on his muzzle as he watched them reunite. _At least I could do that, but... _his heart twinged when he wondered how Amy would react to him now... Sonic was about to turn when Amy suddenly looked up to catch his eye. In that gaze, when emerald and jade eyes met... it was like the floodgates fell from Amy's heart.

"Sonic, wait!" she cried out. "Don't go,_ please._.."

The hedgehog paused, breathing steadily as he waited to see what Amy would do. _I love you, Amy..._

"_Sonic,_" Amy choked out, an avalanche of emotions at this point. "I'm _so sorry_... that I yelled at you back there... I didn't mean I word that I said. Oh, this is all my fault... you've been a good father, but I've been a just bad girlfriend... I'm so sorry that I snapped at you. I just... I didn't trust you, I_ know_ that you would never cheat on me... but ... and it's all my fault for believing Shadow when I shouldn't have... but you... you didn't do anything wrong, and I feel awful... forgive me, Sonic. I still love you, more than_ ever_."

Amy wanted nothing more than to go over to Sonic and throw her arms around him and cry into his chest, but since she was holding the twins, she couldn't. All she could do was stare at Sonic, who was getting more and more blurry in her vision. _Please oh please, Sonic, come over here and hug me, say you forgive me... and still love me... please...  
_

Sonic felt his heart melt at the sight of Amy so raw and emotional. _I knew it... she loves me... Oh Amy.._. Not wasting another second, Sonic walked over to his love, curving his arms around Amy's waist, pulling his girl into a warm, loving hug, both of the twins now safely in his arms as well. And neither hedehog had ever felt more relief other than that embrace. Sonic then leaned forward to press his lips against Amy's, kissing her deeply in forgiveness and love.

"I still love you, Amy..." he whispered when he pulled away just a little from her sweet lips. "It's alright, honey..."

"Oh_ Sonic_... I love you_ so much._.." Amy squeaked as she sobbed, and Sonic's heart warmed at these words he'd longed to hear from her. "I don't deserve you... I'm such a _terrible_ girlfriend... "

"You're not terrible, Amy, and yes you do deserve me," he kissed her again and pulled her as close as possible without squishing the kids in both of their arms. "And then some. But all I got is me..."

"That's all I've ever wanted... just you, but I was selfish and angry... and I didn't trust you... and it's not okay, I really should have trusted you would never cheat on me..." Amy muttered, ashamed as the tears continued to drip. How could Sonic love her when she was at her absolute worst?

"Shhh, it's all done, now, Amy. Let's move on..." Sonic soothed as he ran his fingers through her quills and stroked her fuzzy ears. His eyes then drifted downwards to the twins.

"I'm so glad they're okay, I don't know what I would've done if they hadn't been..." he said honestly and moved his head downwards to kiss them as well.

"Me neither..." Amy said tenderly and hugged her babies closer. "Thank you for coming back, but... why did you...?" the girl couldn't help but ask.

Sonic looked back up at Amy with such a tender expression. "Because, Amy... I love the three of you too much to ever leave you... just like I've always said. And... my old lifestyle just wasn't doing it for me anymore... I want nothing more than to stay with you and our kids for the _rest _of my life..." he promised.

"OH Sonic..." Amy was so emotionally spent she could do nothing but lean into his embrace. Holding onto him and her kids... there was just nothing better than that right now.

"Well then, looks like everything's settled here..." Rouge suddenly said and sent a glance at Knuckles, who'd been looking at her, she was sure. "Back at _your place_, Knuckie?" she shot him a wink and took wing to fly off.

Knuckles turned scarlet and raced after her. "H-hey! You get back here, Rouge!"

Sonic rolled his eyes at his older friends, but didn't waste any time in gathering Amy into his arms... bridal style, though he_ still _hadn't proposed. Crap, now he was gonna have to get a new ring... The girl had both of the twins cradled in her own arms, draped across her chest as Sonic held onto her inner knees and back. Tails was trying to think of a good way to bring up the engagement ring that he_ still _had, but Vanilla interrupted him.

"Um, we seem to have a bit of a problem, dears..." Vanilla said.

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"Well, our house got destroyed by Doctor Eggman, and it will take a while to get the insurance company out here... and we need a place to sleep for the night."

Amy winced in rememberance. "We would invite you over, but we don't have any spare rooms, unless you want to sleep with the twins."

"... Um..." Tails mumbled. "I-I have a spare room..." he offered shyly, looking down at the ground. "Since Sonic moved out... you two can take his old room. I've cleaned it out and everything."

"Why Tails, that's very generous of you. Thank you, we would appreciate that, wouldn't we Cream?"

The rabbit was blushing quite a bit at the thought of having a _sleepover_ at _Tails'_ house, but nodded and followed her mother and Tails back to his house.

Before he left, Tails looked over to his older brother. "Um, Sonic, before you leave, err... I have something for you..." he said cryptically. "Come over later and get it, okay?"

"What is it?" Sonic asked and readjusted Amy in his arms, antsy to get running and bring his family home. It'd been a_ long_ day...

Tails looked at Amy, hoping to drop a hint, but of course, Sonic remained clueless. "... I can't say, but... I think you'll be wanting it pretty soon." For good measure, he reached for his left ring finger, and pointed.

Just now getting it, Sonic mouth dropped in remembrance of how he'd thrown the ring at Shadow earlier. Man, good thing Tails had the ring now... though speaking of Shadow... where had he run off to? Oh well, Sonic would deal with him later. Right now, he just wanted to get everyone home.

"Thanks little bro. I'll be over tomorrow during my mail run to pick it up," and with that, Sonic took off at a slower pace to assure that his precious cargo and himself would all arrive home safely, now a true family once again.

...~... A/N ...~...

Holy _cowbirds_, that was a_ loaded_ chapter... It was supposed to be long, but DANG...

I'm used to writing SonAmy stories where Sonic is the "bad guy" if you will, as it's always him that's confessing to Amy, apologizing for running from her, etc. And rightfully so, because canonically, it is his fault that him and Amy aren't together. But I've touched on that over and over... and this story, their broken relationship is more of Amy's fault. She's the one at fault, losing her temper and distrusting him in the first place. You could argue that those stem from Sonic's previous mistakes, and you're right, but in this story, Sonic has done everything he should so far. He's already corrected them as much as he could. And Amy still didn't trust him. That was the whole point of the first part, with Sonic's thoughts and decision, as well as the ending sequence... Amy and Sonic have really realized they do love each other... it's amazing how fights and absences can do this for a couple... So see, whenever I put a character through a painful experience, it's always to get them to learn something... and it's for a bigger purpose. Because most of the time, it's only through pain that anyone can realize or learn or grow at all.

Just remember that... not only in my stories, but in life as well.

As for the rest of the chapter, ugh, I don't think I pulled it off all that well, with the whole missile thing, but action has never been my strength or a favorite thing to write about. The Knouge scene(s) were just for fun :3. I almost can't believe I made _Shadow_ save Sonic (_uuuugh!_), but I did want to redeem him a little. Besides, Sonic got the girl in the end. So there. :P /immaturity

But now... Sonic and Amy have made up, and now their relationship is stronger. Oh, and one more thing... I know that this story hasn't been exactly heavy on the romance; it's been more about the other side of love, the realistic side, the somewhat tough side to love. The side of love that's not afraid to get it's hands dirty and has a backbone. True love must have this aspect, otherwise it's just... sentimentality.

That being said... I think I owe you guys some _romance_. (And I'm craving some as well... gotta get my fluff fix...) The only other thing I'll say is that... heh, half of next chapter is already written, and has been for a while... doesn't mean a quick update though...

Thanks for reading so far! This story's not close to being finished yet... or maybe it is...


	9. Wildest Dreams

Kurdave125, JackleTheKitsune, Jonman14, Sonmanyluver718, bk00, poka, AutoKnight01, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Mana the Cat Magician, Tyranifex, Delta 2-1, Trinita, Novus Umbra, 01sonamy01: Sooooo sorry! I haven't managed my time well at all the past few days. I'm just glad I got this up before... well, tomorrow. November 16th for us Americans, yes? I'm _so_ hitting up Gamestop tomorrow as soon as they open... can't... wait...

Anyway, enjoy this chapter, guys. We all deserve it. This story has been almost too realistic that its unrealistic so far... so now we get to be rewarded. :D

Chapter 9: Wildest Dreams

* * *

_"I love you." _

The teenage mother spoke clearly and concisely down at the two-month-old baby hedgehogs that, other than a random kick or arm spasm, were sitting calmly in her lap.

"I-I... ah ah ah oooh," Sierra gurgled in reply, her small, tiny face crumpled in the effort of trying to form her first coherent phrase.

"I love you, Sierra," Amy repeated. "C'mon, honey, _I love you_..."

"Ah uh I I ooh aaaah," Chase babbled in reply, trying to beat his sister to it to no avail.

"Aaah oooh gooo!" Sierra responded, her already strong feet giving a kick.

Amy couldn't help but giggle at both of their tries, her heart warm with undeniable love for her twins.

"Aw, I love you, Chase and Sierra. Mommy loves both of you so much," she said tenderly, her fingers tickling their stomachs gently.

The girl continued to look over her children, a warm smile on her muzzle. Honestly, it was times like these, when both of the twins were calm and behaving and being just _so cute_ that made all the work and diaper changing worthwhile. Amy wouldn't trade Sierra's giggle or Chase's toothless smile for the world. And today had been just a normal, relaxing day. In fact, the past month or so had just flown by, with her and Sonic building their relationship back up to a very intimate and loving level, and the twins growing up more and more every day. So maybe Amy's days had settled into a routine and her life hadn't been as exciting as it used to be, but motherhood held it's own thrills and joys, Amy was finding out. And so she was very satisfied with her life at the moment.

Well, there was _one thing_ that was still missing and gnawing at her heart... but over the years, the girl had learned to be patient concerning that aspect. Besides, she'd come to trust Sonic more now anyway.

_He'll propose to me sooner or later_, Amy thought confidently. _I've been dropping so many hints and he says he's going to stay with me... it's only a matter of time, now. I just wish he would stop waiting so long!  
_

A soft giggle escaped her as she couldn't help but picture Sonic kneeling in front of her... asking her a question that he surely already knew the answer to. _C'mon, Sonic... you know you want to marry me! _

Amy took a quick glance at the clock and smiled, for it was almost time for Sonic to be getting home. That and the fact that it'd been a good four hours since the twins had been fed, and neither of them had so much as let out a whine for food.

"You guys getting hungry?" Amy asked in a high-pitched voice, using the edge of her finger tips to slowly lift up her shirt up to her collar bone, letting the excess fabric balance under her chin.

Eager to be fed, the twins leaned forward along with Amy's gentle readjustments to latch on and start drinking. Amy liked direct breastfeeding much better than using a bottle, and right now she was feeling too lazy to go and warm some milk up anyway. The girl sighed contentedly as the twins continued feeding, one eye on the clock, one eye on her twins. Once Sonic got home, the two of them would share the spaghetti dinner she'd already made earlier that day while Chase and Sierra were sleeping. It was staying warm on low heat at the moment.

Eventually, both twins finished feeding and pulled away, licking their tiny lips with satisfaction.

"All done!" Amy said and lowered her shirt before resting both of her babies against her abdomen. Just when she was about to say something else, the sound of the door clicking open caught Amy's ears, and a genuine grin lit up her muzzle.

"Oh,_ A-my_!" Sonic called out in a sing song voice as he entered their house, a grin that was wider than usual covering his face. "You better go and look your prettiest, cuz me an' you got a _date_ tonight!"

Amy looked up as her boyfriend sauntered in and declared this to her, confused. It had been a long time since either of them had been able to go out together, because of the kids. "... a _date_?"

"Oh c'mon, don't act like you've never been on one of_ those_ before," Sonic teased. "Now c'mon, times a wastin', we got places to _go._.."

Realizing he actually was serious about this, Amy found herself grinning as well and readjusted the twins so she could stand up. "Oh, thanks Sonic, just lemme get the kids ready-"

Sonic vigorously shook his head, still wearing that dangerous grin. "Nope, no worries about them. Tonight it's just me and you, Ames."

Amy's brow furrowed in confusion. "What... but what about..." she looked down at Chase and Sierra, knowing there was no way she was leaving them home alone.

"Got the babysitters already lined up," Sonic said just as a certain fox and rabbit entered behind him, smiling and holding hands.

Amy blinked at her friends, just now getting it. "Cream, Tails? Really? You guys are gonna..."

"Yes, Amy. Tails and I are going to watch Chase and Sierra while you and Sonic go on a romantic date," Cream informed her in a matter-the-fact tone.

"Are you sure you guys can handle watching them for a while?" Amy asked, still a little uncertain.

"Yeah, they'll be_ fine_," Sonic assured his girlfriend. "I already gave them the lowdown, and they're cool with it."

Tails and Cream both nodded in agreement.

The pink hedgehog couldn't help but blush and smile as she surveyed the three of them, her heart touched. "Aww... thanks you guys." She stood up before giving one twin to each of the preteens. Cream accepted Chase with no problem and cuddled up with the little boy, but Tails' eyes got huge as he awkwardly handled Sierra.

Amy then turned her attention back to Sonic, who still had that dashing grin on his face, and it was then that it really hit Amy that she was going to get to spend a few hours with him, alone, without her twins to worry about. A super romantic date, just the two of them? Oh, what could he have planned?

At that thought, Amy gave her infamous squeal and launched herself at Sonic, gathering him into a tight hug. The hedgehog gasped as he was reminded of just how strong Amy was, her arms wrapped firmly around his neck. She used her leverage to kick her legs up in glee and spun around, causing Sonic to grunt in surprise and effort, but he quickly raised his hands to Amy's waist to steady both of them. Once Amy's squeal had died down, she leaned forward to plant kisses all over Sonic's face.

"OH, Sonic, thank you for this! We haven't been out in forever!"

_Man, she's this happy and we haven't even gone anywhere yet..._ "Yer welcome Ames, now go and get real pretty. I want you to knock my socks off tonight."

"Oh, I will," the giddy girl promised and ran into her bedroom with a wink, dreams and fantasies rolling through her mind of what in the world Sonic could possibly have planned for tonight, when it would be just the two of them. Would he... actually... propose to her, this very night? Oh, how this girl could dream...

As soon as the door shut on Amy's room, Sonic's cocky expression immediately evaporated and he almost collapsed.

"Oh, _crap_, I can't do this..." Sonic said softly, his heart racing. He started pacing the living room floor, his shoes scuffing the hard wood, trying to burn off his anxiety.

"Hey, you can't back out now," Tails encouraged. "You haven't even started, and besides, there's no way Amy's gonna say no..."

The hedgehog took a deep breath and tried to stop pacing only to pace the shorter width of the living room.

"Sonic, you've come this far, now, C'mon. This isn't about you anymore.." Tails continued to encourage, not noticing the way Sierra seemed to be entranced by his tails swishing back and forth.

"Mr. Sonic, do you still want to put this on?" Cream suddenly asked. With Chase still on her hip, the rabbit had gone into the other room to retrieve the rented, formal suit that Sonic had said that he'd wear tonight. The hedgehog turned the color of his now raised gloves at the sight.

"No, no, I changed my mind. It won't help the sweat and I can't run in that..." Sonic shook his head. "I'll just go natural..."

"Sonic," Tails narrowed his eyes. "Do you want to make Amy happy or not? As I said, this isn't about you."

Sonic looked over at his best friend and then at the lavender hedgehog that he was holding. Tails was right, as always, he knew that. But still... there was a good reason he never wore clothes, one being that pants were extremely hard to run in. But still, the restaurant he'd already gotten reservations for required clothes, unfortunately. And since he really wanted to go all out tonight...

"Alright..." he grabbed the suit and peeled the outer covering of plastic off it. "Let's make this quick..."

First Sonic unbuttoned the shirt and slipped it on, making sure his back-quills could poke out of the holes tailored specifically for a hedgehog. After this came the black jacket, and Sonic cringed as he found it made it difficult to raise his arms up above a certain height.

"Darn how restrictive this is... I'm gonna tear this thing in the first hour..." Sonic muttered, just before his eyes caught sight of the bright red tie that had come with it. Crap.

"Er... Tails, you know how to tie one of those?" he asked hopefully.

"I can figure it out," Tails said and took the red tie in one hand before going to sit down across the couch from Cream, who was busy playing with Chase. He cradled Sierra using one of his fluffy, soft tails so he could try and figure out the mystery of the tie with two free hands.

Meanwhile, Sonic kicked off his beloved shoes, already missing them, and made a face at the slacks before pulling the fabric over his legs. "Urgh," he groaned as he felt them brush against his normally bare legs. "What a _drag_."

Sonic looked at the dress shoes and firmly shook his head, his long quills bouncing. "Nope, I'm stayin' with the sneaks," he decided and pulled them back over his feet, even though they clashed _heavily_ with his much more formal suit.

"Your sneakers, Sonic?" Tails asked incredulously. "Those don't go with the suit."

Sonic shrugged. "I really don't care."

Tails shook his head, "So.. what _do_ you got planned?"

Sonic shrugged again as he remained standing, knowing he was too jittery to sit at the moment. "Nothing, really, 'sides dinner. After that I'm just winging it."

Tails made a face at him, then looked back down at the tie, twisting it in odd ways to get it in the right shape.

"What, you expect me to plan _ahead_? Puh, that'd be no fun. I'll figure out a nice place to take Amy, though, and uh... yeah."

"Whatever Sonic... so you do have the ring, right?" the fox asked in hushed tones, knowing that Amy was only few walls away.

Sonic raised a finger and was about to say yes, but quickly checked in his quills, fingertips brushing velvet. "Yep, it's in there."

He let out another nervous breath, and decided that it was no use just standing around: he had to try out his outfit and see how much speed it could handle. He did a few laps around the living room, hating how much the pants pulled and slowed his legs. _Ah, the things we do for love... _Sonic thought as he stood still again.

"Alright, think I got it," Tails said tentatively, looking down at the tie that was more or less tied. "Now, Sonic, just put this over your head and pull on this back part here..." the fox handed Sonic the tie and took Sierra back into his arms, letting one of his tails hover above her head as the girl reached for the soft white fur on the tip.

"Alright..." Sonic slipped the tie around his neck and tightened it until it rested right under his collar. "Good?"

Tails bit his lip. "Er, it's a little crooked," he said, much to Sonic's annoyance. "Here, lemme try again."

"I'll hold Sierra," Cream offered.

"T-thanks Cream," Tails blushed and handed his crush the baby girl, his heart skipping as their arms brushed. He was trying not to think about the fact that they were about to spend the whole evening together, taking care of two infants.

After a few quick adjustments with the tie and Sonic's numerous complaints about it being too tight, the hedgehog was _finally_ ready to go.

"You look really nice, Mr. Sonic," Cream said as she handed one of the twins to Tails, who just snickered at his older brother's appearance.

"Shut up, Tails."

Tails was about to retaliate when the sound of Amy's door creaking open hit Sonic's ears, and he turned. The girl walked in wearing a very flattering silky red dress, which revealed her neck and just a little cleavage. The fitted bodice had three vertical stripes of pinched fabric and rose accessories decorating the stripes. The skirt portion bunched and ruffled, resulting in a hem about two inches above Amy's knees and revealing her soft, curved pink legs that ended in jeweled heels. Sonic found that his jaw had dropped quite a bit at her appearance, since it'd been a _good_ while since he'd seen Amy dress up so nicely.

Amy's eyes flew open upon seeing her boyfriend looking so sharp, as she'd _never_ seen Sonic wearing clothes before.

"Oh Sonic you look _so cute_!" Amy gushed and ran over to her boyfriend, crushing him in yet another hug. "I didn't know you were gonna dress_ up_!"

When she pulled back to look him in the eyes, she found that he was blushing profusely. Indeed, Sonic found his face was getting hotter as he studied Amy's face so close to his own. Amy was always pretty, but how she looked _now_, with makeup highlighting all of her features, silky quills framing her pixieish face... Amy looked downright gorgeous.

_Man, am I lucky or what... if only she'll say yes tonight... Ah, she's got to... man, she's gonna be so happy... I can't wait...  
_

"Yeah, well, heh, ya know," he babbled, realizing he'd been staring. "You don't look so bad yerself..."

"Aw, thanks... but you look soooo cute!" Amy gushed again before leaning forward to kiss his soft, honey flavored lips.

Amy felt Sonic's hands fall to the curve of her waist as their lips danced together in rapturous contact. She pulled his body closer to hers in passion, her arms linked around his neck as she kissed him even deeper than before, her tongue wrestling with his.

The hedgehogs kissed for a few more seconds, both completely oblivious until Tails cleared his throat.

"Ahem, guys... don't you guys have a dinner to go to?" Tails asked timidly.

They broke reluctantly, both blushing deeper than Amy's dress.

"Yeah, guess we'll be goin' now," Sonic said and scooped his girlfriend in his arms. "You two take care of our kids, okay?"

"Wait," Amy said and wiggled in Sonic's grip. "Just a few things, uh, remember, Sierra is a little more fussy than Chase is, and she only likes to be held a certain way -"

"Just like her mother," Sonic teased.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Chase is pretty much a sweetheart -"

"Just like his dad," Sonic said proudly.

"-But he does kick and wiggle around a lot, just like his dad." Amy sent a playful glare up at Sonic. "Other than that, uh... I have some bottles in the fridge if they get hungry, just make sure you warm the milk up before you feed... we should have enough, I would've pumped more if I would've known..."

She looked down at her chest, causing Sonic to blush. "They'll be fine Ames," he started heading over to the door, eager to leave.

"Oh," Amy remembered something else, and looked back at the babysitters, who were still listening. "You can put them to bed any time they're sleeping, usually around seven, just make sure you put them on their_ backs_, not their tummies, and..."

"Ames, I think they're-"

"Oh, and I just made some spaghetti, you guys are welcome to eat it! Go ahead and watch TV, or whatever, as well..."

"Ames," Sonic said more firmly. "They can handle it, I'm positive."

"Okay... " Amy's emerald eyes danced over the twins' once again. "Bye Chase and Sierra, mommy loves you!" She blew both of them a kiss.

"Daddy loves you more," Sonic joked and smiled at his kids. He then looked back up at Tails and Cream. "Thanks guys, I do appreciate it."

"No problem, Sonic! You guys have fun," Tails said and smirked.

"We will," Sonic said, and without wasting any more time, ran out the door, rushing into the evening sunset cradling Amy.

Amy felt all of her fear and anxiety that came from leaving her kids evaporate slowly as she held onto Sonic, the wind rushing past them... or, rather, they rushed past the wind. The girl succumbed into Sonic's firm and loving grip, although she had to gasp as their surroundings became more and more blurry and so dizzying that she had to look at Sonic instead. The view of his face certainly didn't hurt her eyes any. No, the hedgehog was as handsome as ever, and it really had been a long time since Sonic had carried her anywhere on a date like this, and since they'd been able to get some alone time out of the house.

Feeling safe in his arms, Amy loosened her own grip from around his neck, her fingertips caressing the side of his face. Amy looked up at him lovingly, only for Sonic to return the tender gesture with a sweet smile. The two held eyes for a while, and Amy started getting nervous, as Sonic's feet were still pumping but he had taken his eyes off the road.

"You better watch where you're going," Amy warned him playfully.

Sonic's grin only grew. "How can I when you're so much more beautiful?"

Amy blushed but still stuck her neck out to find his lips in brief but still blissful contact. Sonic couldn't resist kissing Amy in return, and even closed his eyes for a second before opening them to dodge a few trees. Still, Sonic was having fun already: being on a run, with Amy in his arms and kissing him... it really didn't get much better than this.

The hedgehog kept running around for another half hour, just to stretch his legs and get Amy relaxed. The couple watched as the baby blue sky faded into a lovely golden and peach hue, painting the cottony clouds said colors.

"So where we headed to, anyway?" Amy asked after a time.

"What do you think about... " he tried his tongue on the foreign sounding name, only to have Amy giggle at his mispronunciation.

"Sounds lovely, Sonic," Amy assured him and snuggled into his jacket-covered chest. "That's a really nice place..."

"You deserve it, Ames," Sonic asserted and started heading for the fancy restaurant to blow his paycheck, trying not to think about the huge tear he could already feel in his pants...

...~... Intermission ...~...

"Don't worry, Tails, if we need anything we can just call Mom at your place," Cream said cheerily, as one of her hands ruffled Chase's small quills.

The rabbit was glad that Vanilla had allowed her to do this. At first the older rabbit had been apprehensive about Cream being alone with Tails, but she'd given in when Sonic had told her that it would be only because he wanted to take Amy somewhere nice to propose. Plus, Sonic had said smoothly, it would give both of them some invaluable practice taking care of kids. And so, Vanilla had given in, and here Tails and Cream were: alone in Sonic and Amy's house, each holding an infant.

Tails nodded his head, still gingerly holding Sierra against his soft chest fur. The little girl's hands kept running through the ivory fluff, squeezing it just a little in her soft hands.

"You're right, Cream..." Tails said with a nod as he watched Cream play with Chase. The girl really seemed to be a natural with kids, which Tails had figured was from what Vanilla had told her.

"Aren't these little ones so cute?" Cream gushed.

"Yeah, they sure are..." the fox had to agree. "Chase looks so much like Sonic, but he has Amy's eyes... Sierra looks like a mixture of both of them."

"Chao chao?" Cheese asked curiously, fluttering around both twins.

"Yes, Cheese, this is Chase the Hedgehog... he's Sonic and Amy's son..."

Chase looked at the flying Chao in wonder and gave a coo as Cheese cuddled up with him.

"And that's Sierra Rose, Chase's sister," Cream informed her pet, who then flew over to hug the little girl as well before going back to Cream.

Tails laughed and it was right then that he noticed Sierra's jade eyes watching every swishing movement his tails made in wonder. Smiling again, he brought down one of his namesakes to tickle the little girl's arms with it. Sierra immediately laughed with delight and gave an excited kick as the bushy fur touched her.

The fox lifted his tail and then brought it back down, as Sierra's eyes tracked it with delight.

"Play peek a boo with them," Cream suddenly suggested, holding back a giggle as she watched Tails and Sierra play.

"What?" Tails asked and blushed as he looked at Cream.

"You know, peek-a-boo... with your tails..."

"Oh..." Tails blushed again, but realized that was a good idea.

And so the hours slowly passed, with Tails and Cream playing and relaxing with the twins, a movie on TV playing in the background, and enjoying the spaghetti dinner Amy had made earlier. It was a nice, rather relaxing evening, and Tails and Cream both found that it wasn't that hard to take care of kids after all. Only Sierra cried, and only once, when Tails had stood up to get her a bottle. But once the girl had gotten her fill, she'd calmed down and nestled in her uncle's arms.

"You want to put them in their cribs now?" Tails offered later that evening with a yawn. It was getting pretty late, and both Chase and Sierra had long since closed their eyes.

Cream looked down at Chase, and had to smile at him. The blue hedgehog's eyes were shut so sweetly, and he was gently gripping Cream's dress. "You want to just keep holding them, instead?" Cream asked Tails with big brown eyes, not wanting to let go.

"Uh, sure, fine by me..." Tails agreed and settled back down onto the loveseat, subtly shifting closer to Cream.

The rabbit saw his movement and blushed a little herself before scooting over to the boy, leaning her own head on Tails' shoulder and closing her eyes. At first Tails tensed up at her contact, but when she rested her free hand gently on his knee, he relaxed and enjoyed her touch.

And as Tails extended one of his namesakes towards his crush to wrap her in warmth, he couldn't help but hope and wonder if this, right here, sitting together on the loveseat holding twins... was a foreshadowing of things to come... FAR in the future.

...~... Intermission Over ...~...

The dinner that Sonic and Amy shared that night had been perfectly sweet and romantic, as the place had been decked out in white linen tablecloths, dim lighting, candles in the corner, and gorgeous artwork gracing the walls. Of course, they'd spent the first half an hour trying not to giggle about Sonic's torn pants that they'd tried _desperately_ to cover up from the waiter while he was leading them to their seats. But it worked out, because that was how long it had taken for the chefs to prepare their (rather expensive) dinner of steak for Sonic and filet mignon for Amy.

They ate in relative silence, enjoying the meal and atmosphere, sneaking glances at each other and holding hands across the table. Amy was thrilled and soaking in how absolutely _romantic_ this restaurant was, as she'd always dreamed Sonic would take her somewhere like this one day.

After the meal was over with, the couple walked out into the now pitch black but still warm night, underneath a canopy of stars.

"Oh, that place was so good," Amy gushed and grabbed at her stomach dramatically. "I feel so full!"

"It _was_ good; I haven't eaten that much in one sitting in awhile," Sonic agreed and pulled Amy around the back of the restaurant.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, and gasped as Sonic started pulling off his shredded pants.

The hedgehogs stared at the slacks and couldn't help but share a laugh.

"They're already torn," he said with a casual chuckle and tossed them into the dumpster. "Too bad they're a rental, I'll just pay for 'em... no sense wearin' them any longer, cause we _are_ doin' some more running tonight."

Amy's eyes lit up at that statement, and she traced Sonic's now bare legs all the way down to his casual running sneakers, just now noticing how much they clashed with the jacket and tie he still had on. Oh, that was her Sonic... it was amazing how he'd managed to get into the restaurant with his sneakers and torn pants, though. Oh well, that was over with now.

"Are you gonna keep the jacket on?" Amy asked as Sonic led her back out front by holding her hand.

"Whaddya think?" he released her and struck a pose, his hands on his hips and a smirk on his muzzle.

"Keep it, you look very handsome..." Amy said with a nod. "It's not often that I get to see you dressed up... although you _are_ gonna wear one for our _wedding_, right?"

"Uh, heh heh heh heh," Sonic laughed nervously and then cleared his throat. _About **that**..._ "Uh, let's get to some more runnin' huh?" he scooped Amy into his arms again and took off at a quick pace now that he didn't have to worry about the pants.

Amy frowned a little at his hesitance, but the more she studied how much he was blushing in the moonlight and thought about the fact that there was probably a good reason he'd brought her out on a date... the more she was thinking that he actually was gonna propose to her... this very night. Ooooh, could she handle this? And where was he taking her anyway? Oh well, she'd find out soon enough. In the meantime, she'd just snuggle in his arms and against his warm face, enjoying his presence if nothing else.

Meanwhile, Sonic was having just a_ bit_ of an internal conflict, and the wheels in his mind were turning now just about as fast as his legs. He knew he didn't want to bring Amy home so early... and if he didn't propose tonight he might never work up the nerve to ask her out again. He might never get this chance again, having just him and Amy together and alone...

He sighed and his breath got caught up in the wind. But there was still the problem of _where_ exactly he was gonna do this. He didn't really have a particular place in mind, but he wanted it to be memorable. After a few minutes of running around aimlessly and wracking his brain, his mind kept coming back to... the lake he had visited, way back when him and Amy had had that huge fight.

_But that's way on the other side of the world_, his mind scolded him.

_It doesn't matter, it'll only take me a little while to get there, as it's just directly south, and not across the planet. Since it's still in the same hemisphere, it'll still be night. And Amy likes it when I hold her and run, so she won't mind the journey. Besides, it'll be awful beautiful down there at night by the lake, with the moon and stars... Ames is gonna love it. _

With those thoughts, Sonic let a grin light up his face. "Alright, Ames, hold on, I'm gonna go _really _fast, okay?"

Amy's grip around his neck tightened even as Sonic's around her knees and back did. "Alright, I trust you."

Without another word, Sonic dug into to increase his speed, his legs moving at such a blistering pace that Amy felt her heart jump in her chest. Sonic was going faster than he ever had while he was carrying her, and the passing objects were no more than blurs. She pulled herself even closer to Sonic, not out of fear, but out of thrill and because she loved him that much. She wasn't afraid, as she knew Sonic knew what he was doing. Besides, her mind was occupied with dreams of where in the world he could be taking her... and to do_ what_...

Since Sonic was Sonic, the journey took under an hour, and in no time the two hedgehogs were standing right on the bank of the same lake, crunching fallen leaves underfoot. Since it was night here as well, they couldn't see the surrounding forest and the multi-colored leaves all that well; but the calm lake held a mirror-like surface, reflecting the nearly full moon and twinkling constellations. The lake also had a gentle chorus of frogs croaking, but that only added to the effect of seclusion.

"Wow..." Amy breathed as she took all the moonlit sights in and Sonic set her down on her heels. "This place is pretty... I don't think I've ever been here before." She ran her foot absentmindedly through the leaves, and then she paused in realization. "It's _Fall_ here?"

Sonic chuckled and gave her gloved hand a squeeze. "Yep, I brought ya to the other side of the world, just to see this lake. It's pretty, isn't it? One of my favorite places, actually. 'Specially at night, you can see the moon and stars..."

He sent Amy a tender smile, and the girl returned it. "Thanks for bringing me out here, Sonic... this place is so romantic..." She sighed. "Do you wanna sit?"

Sonic let out a nervous breath. "Well, actually... uh, I was thinking we could walk uh around the perimeter... if you wanna..." he said, not wanting to sit, as that would make getting down on one knee rather pointless.

Wait... he was _actually_ going to go through with this?

"Fine by me," Amy said and squeezed his hand. "But don't be surprised if you have to catch me if I fall, I'm in heels..."

"Aw, don't worry, I'll be here ta catch ya..." Sonic assured the girl, and they were off on their walk.

_Should I?_ Sonic sent a sneaking glance at Amy, his mind debating. _Should I... _

_Yes, right now would be a good time, man. _

_... can I?** Can** I really do this? _

_It's simply the next step... you're already living with her. You've already given up your freedom. You know you can't keep her hanging any longer... _

_I don't want to keep her hanging, you're right, but... _

His jade eyes flew over to the young woman next to him, and a sudden surge of joy, pride, and love flooded through his heart. Amy had grown up so much since they'd first met; her simple and crazy infatuation turning into true love. The more Sonic got to know Amy, the more he had come to love her. And the hedgehog knew that if he _was_ ever going to get married one day... it would be to no one but Amy.

And himself... well, he'd grown up too. And he knew that if it wasn't for Amy and this situation, he might have never grown up and realized how rewarding having a family and love could be. They had grown up together through this, coming to cherish each other. So oddly enough, this may have been the best thing to ever happen to him.

And this, what he was about to do, signified that he had grown up and come to love Amy. Marriage was the ultimate sign of love and commitment, and Sonic was just about as ready as he was ever going to get to make that step. And this one thing, he knew that not only was it Amy's dream... it was truly what he wanted as well. Even though this had been what he'd been so afraid of for so long... what he'd always run away from as a young teenager, when Amy was wielding that hammer and chasing after him... he'd finally given into her.

With these thoughts, Sonic felt his feet stop, along with his heart. Amy stopped as well, and sent Sonic a puzzled glance with her dark green eyes, but she didn't dare say his name. Slowly, Sonic's head turned towards her, the pensive expression tugging at his ruggedly handsome features turning into that adorable bashful one. One of his hands was around his own back, the other one was holding hers, though it was trembling something fierce.

"Amy... I..." he paused and swallowed, trying to come up with a good way to start this.

Even though the girl's heart was _hammering_ in anticipation, her lips held a patient smile._ Please, Sonic... ask me what I want to hear.._.

Sonic shifted his weight again, trying to do this just like he knew Amy had always dreamed... but he wasn't quite sure what that was. Maybe he should've asked her. Oh well, it was really too late for that. He'd just have to wing it...

"Amy, I, sorry, I just... heh..." He sighed and laughed nervously. "Let's try this again. Amy... I brought you out here cause... I just wanted to tell you how much I, well, love you for one, but also... how very grateful I am of you... for putting up with me, and being an awesome mother for our kids that I love so much... An' it's because of you and them that I've come to love you and realize that... well, I've changed my mind on a lot of things concernin' you and... I've come to realize that I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of and loving you. Nothing would make me happier, Amy. For a while I tried to go back to my old life of pure freedom, bringing me here, but ... I can't live that way anymore, because you have my heart now, Ames."

He paused and looked into her glimmering green eyes. This whole moment felt so _surreal_...

"So, there's just one thing I gotta ask ya..."

With one hand he dug inside his back-quills, grabbing the box with trembling fingers and brought it to his side. He let a smile come over his face, trying to let his natural confidence carry him, but had to let out a deep breath as he felt the weight of the situation. Yep, he was actually about to propose to Amy Rose.

_Here I go..._

Sonic pulled out in front of Amy so that he was facing the girl head on, and then quickly sunk to one knee, the moist blades of grass soaking through his fur. He used his fingers to snap the box open and then opened his palm and raised it up to Amy, showing the girl all of his love and intentions symbolized in one diamond-studded engagement ring.

Even though his heart was pounding, Sonic looked her directly in the eyes, his own shining with love.

"Amy Rose... will you... _marry_ me?"

The girl looked down at the young man in front of her on one knee, and she couldn't help but gasp and bring a hand up to her mouth... not from surprise, but from joy.

Amy's life of dreams where she'd imagined this very moment and tried to force it on Sonic passed before her eyes as she continued to gape at her boyfriend...

...chasing Sonic down, and firmly declaring with her arms crossed, "_Sonic, this time there's no way out of marrying me_!"

... or sassily bargaining with him while the poor hedgehog was stuck in a cage and wondering about his new faker... "_If I tell ya, will you marry me?" _

... or in a daydream on a faraway planet, she imitated and imagined him saying, "_Now I see what a fool I've been for waiting so long, Amy, will you marry me?" "Oh Sonic of course I will_!" she'd screamed in girlish delight... only to be awoken by the harsh grip of reality... that Sonic didn't feel the same way she did. At that point, foolish dreams were all she had.

Reality... then it seemed that all those hopes and fantasies had been crushed by one night of phony and imitation love where she'd been used because of her desperate need for nothing but love from Sonic... And yet, against all odds, that act of false passion had created two new lives, which had brought them together like nothing else could seem to.

And now, in spite of all that drama and trauma, her deepest desires and dreams were finally coming true. Here and now, Sonic the Hedgehog, her preteen crush and teenage love, was kneeling in front of her in the flesh, asking her to become his wife, and to spend the rest of her life with him.

She stared into his dazzling jade eyes, then at the diamond-studded ring, then back into his eyes. They were glimmering and reflecting by moonbeams that were also illuminating his quills being ruffled in some odd breeze. But those gorgeous eyes... they were opened wide and with pure love shining forth, asking Amy one simple question.

Would she marry him?

Oh, this couldn't be happening... she was twelve years old again, caught with her head in the clouds, and any second now she would wake up, or Sonic would stand up and run from her, or worse, say he was only kidding.

"Oh..." Amy breathed in disbelief, one of her hands covering up her smile, her eyes dripping with happy-tears.

At that word, it was like a thousand knives all decided to attack Sonic's heart at once, cutting the muscle to ribbons as the hedgehog's eyes snapped shut. The crevices filled in quickly, though, with liquid pressure that caused his eyelids to tremble.

No.

_She'd said... no?_

Oh how could this _happen_? How could she... say no to him? What had he done wrong...

Rejected.

Rejected.

**_Rejected..._**

The word hit him over and over again, and Sonic snapped the velvet box shut.

_Oh... I always knew this was a bad idea... why... _

_I need to run, get away..._

But before he could move, Sonic was suddenly violently forced onto his back, a sobbing Amy on top of him, squeezing the life out of his lungs. _Oh man, this is it. She's gonna kill me..._

"**_OH SONIC_**~!" Amy squealed and stole a deep kiss from his lips, her heart racing in pure, unbridled joy as tears flowed from her eyes. "You... you... you finally did it! you finally... You asked me to _marry_ you and it was so_ perfect_ and I... I wondered, I wanted_, I dreamed_ for so long that you _would_..." Amy couldn't help but kiss him again, this time gripping his quills roughly as she pushed his mouth against hers.

Sonic, meanwhile, was totally flabbergasted at her conflicting responses as Amy continued to bury him in kisses. _Didn't she just say no?_ he wondered. _Then why is she so happy?_

He felt his lungs burning, yearning for air. He was quite sure that he was tuning purple when Amy finally pulled from the kiss to look down at him with a huge grin on her face. One tear from her eye fell down and landed on Sonic's nose.

"...so is that a yes?" Sonic was almost afraid to ask.

"YES! Oh SONIC of_ course_ I will marry you! There's nothing in the_ world_ that I want more than _that_!" Amy insisted and leaned forward for another deep, wet kiss from his sweet lips.

Relief flooded Sonic's heart, and he let himself succumb to Amy's happiness and try and return her kisses, though she was too aggressive for him to even try.

_Jeez, and to think that I was worried she'd reject me._.. he thought and chuckled in his head. _Man, how silly was I..._

"Oh, Sonic... thank you thank you thank you thank you so much! You know I've always wanted this, for so long... and..." she sniffed. "Ooooh, Sonic! I love you so much!"

Amy squeezed her fiance (**_fiance!_**) even closer to herself, drowning in waves upon waves of bliss as she felt his warmth. Oh my goodness, her and Sonic were now finally _engaged. _Finally, after years and years and years... they were about to be together permanently. _  
_

The two soon-to-be-married hedgehogs continued embracing and kissing, enjoying what was by far the best night of their lives.

"So... where did that ring end up, anyway?" Sonic asked after his lips were finally free for more than a second. Not that he minded...

"Oh," Amy suddenly felt a little sheepish, and loosened her grip on Sonic just a little to look around them for the ring box which had been... _disregarded_ in her... _excitement_. "It's over there," she let out a giddy giggle at seeing it.

Sonic lifted himself partway up, since Amy didn't seem to be willing to get off of him, and reached for the ring box that was on his right side. He quickly dislodged the ring and then took a hold of Amy's hand to slip it on.

"Sonic! That's my right hand," Amy scolded him, but had to giggle again.

"Oh my bad," he joked and transferred it, this time to the ring finger on the proper hand.

As the pink hedgehog looked down at her newly adorned finger, it was just then that Amy finally noticed the design of the ring; it had one large, circular-cut diamond raised in the center, and strings of metal housing smaller diamonds twisted around the sides and base, forming what looked like delicate rose petals as a tiny frame for the large stud in the center.

Sonic smiled as he saw her admiring it. "Ya like it?"

"Oh, it's absolutely _gorgeous_," Amy gushed truthfully.

"Heh, as soon as I saw it, I was reminded of you and knew you'd love it... looks like a rose... oh, I shoulda mentioned, I added some engravings as well," Sonic said and pointed to the inside of the band. "I dunno if you can see it in this light, but it has our initials with a heart in the middle."

"Oh Sonic, I love you so much!" Amy said for about the millionth time, and still wasn't finished saying it... and she didn't think she'd ever stop saying that phrase for as long as her and Sonic lived. After all... they were going to be_ married_ soon.

"I love you too, Amy," Sonic assured her and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her back down on top of him.

"That's Amy Rose the_ Hedgehog_, to you," his fiancee corrected him.

"Hey, we're not married_ yet_..."

"Oh but we_ will_ be..." Amy squealed and snuggled against his chest again.

"Yep, Ames... we sure will," Sonic said tenderly and brushed away her bang quills. "I can't wait..."

...~... A/N ...~...

I have to type fast before my inner fangirl takes over, so I will just say this:

I'm sure most of you have noticed that Amy is the only female Sonic character without a "species name", as we have Rouge the Bat and Cream the Rabbit and Blaze the Cat, etc. (Let's not mention a certain chipmunk...) And so I got to thinking and imagining... why not have in hedgehog tradition, the female is given two names, inherited from her mother, like a maiden name (hence Amy _Rose_, no other girl has a surname like that), and she doesn't become a "The Hedgehog" until she gets married? I LIKE IT. AND IT'S ROMANTIC. That would also mean that Sierra is not "Sierra the Hedgehog" like I called her in Passion... she's just Sierra Rose (which is really pretty!). :)

(And sorry, Jackle, about the pants gag, which I sorta stole from you... I did add my own twist with Sonic shredding them... it was just too good to pass up!... and I woulda made the Taiream part longer, but hey... this chapter's _already_ too long...)

...now I'm off. I need to decide if I should do what I've always planned to do with the third part of this story. I'm still debating with myself if I wanna go down that route or not... we'll see. Besides, I'm gonna be playing SONIC COLORS the next few days, so I'll be busy anyway. ;3 But for now:

EEEeeeEEeeeEEEeeEEeeEEEK~! I"M SOoOooooOOoooOOoOO HAPPY! *bounces around the room, squealing and giggling and dancing* YAAAY! SONIC AND AMY ARE ENGAAAAGED! THEY'RE GETTING MARRIIIIIED! YAAAAAAAAAAY! EEEeeeEEEeeeEEEK!


	10. In Her Element

Trinita, JackleTheKitsune, CherrletheChicken, AutoKnight01, Tyranifex, Sonamyluver718, Jonman14, Kurdave125, holospartoi258, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, poka, LightVsDark99, Delta 2-1, 01sonamy01, Mana the Cat Magician, Marounne, SherryBlossom:

Hey, long time no see guys. Sorry 'bout the wait, but stuff happens, you know how it is.

Chapter 10: In Her Element

* * *

The bright rays from the golden sun looming in the clear blue sky warmed the calm earth below, giving plants and trees their bold green color back into their now mature leaves. The cool, fresh days of spring had faded into the long, humid, and stuffy hours of summer, setting a haze in the horizon and making any outdoor activities limited to the evenings.

In the northern part of smoggy Central City, where the heat was especially unbearable because of all the pavement reflecting the sun, there sat a workshop. On any other day it would host just a solitary fox tinkering away on some machine, but now it held not just Tails, but also two rabbits, one chao, and three hedgehogs... soon to be _four_ hedgehogs, once the mail man dropped by for his daily visit.

But yes, it really was crowded on this day, as Vanilla and Cream's house was still a pile of rubble thanks to Eggman, and their insurance company was still making estimates even two months after the deed. The three of them were getting used to living together in any case; Vanilla was using Sonic's old room, and Cream had taken Tails' room as the fox now slept in his living room or in the Tornado ("You're such a gentleman," Cream had told him, causing the fox to blush heavily as she smiled sweetly in his direction.)

And now that Sonic and Amy were officially engaged, the trio had yet three others coming in almost daily to share the limited space. Amy was spending more and more time over at Tails' so that she could not only use his computer for ordering wedding stuff, but also for some help babysitting while she did all of that work. Planning a wedding was proving to be stressful and time consuming, as Amy wanted the whole thing to be perfect. She'd planned out dozens - hundreds - of weddings for her and Sonic before, if only mentally. The hard thing was narrowing down exactly what she wanted. But Sonic had told her a few days ago that he was game with whatever and was going to let Amy do most of the planning. Although he_ had_ set a rather tight budget for her, as they had a lot of other expenses with the twins. But Amy couldn't complain too much.

So Amy had spent the past week or so on the computer looking up ideas and making phone calls to florists, gown stores, bakeries, possible locations, decoration stores...

... there was just _so much_ to plan! But Amy didn't mind - in fact, the girl was having a blast. She was in her element, in all ways possible.

"What do you think Sierra?" Amy asked her daughter who was sitting in her lap. "Roses? Lilies? Freesia? Oh, there's just so many_ options_..." she gushed and continued to scroll down that page.

Her forest green eyes scanned all of the bouquet pictures as she started softly bouncing Sierra on her leg. The baby girl looked around curiously and continued to suck on her small thumb.

"It would help if we had a date picked out so I would know the time of year better," Amy muttered at the small lavender hedgehog. "But your daddy says he doesn't want to wait any longer than a_ year_... and well, neither do I," Amy giggled a little. "But we're not sure we want a winter wedding either... though I'm trying to convince Sonic that snow covered evergreens are _very romantic_... So I'm thinking next Spring, though Sonic wants it in the fall, but that's WAY too early... It's July right now, so that will give us nine months to plan... but oh my goodness there's_ a lot_ to do..."

"Aaaah baa baa oooh," Sierra 'said' back.

"That's right honey," Amy said to her daughter. "I'm going to have to buy you a pretty dress to wear, too... how does that sound?"

"Umm... Amy?" A voice suddenly drifted into the room, and Tails winced as it cracked. "I know you're busy but..."

The pink hedgehog looked up from the computer monitor towards her brother-in-law-to-be. The fox was standing in the threshold rather awkwardly, holding an innocent-looking boy hedgehog by his armpits, his yellow-socked feet dangling. Amy cringed at the way he was being held, knowing that Sierra would never let herself be held like that.

"What is it Tails?"

"Um, Chase, he..." Tails looked away sheepishly.

Amy suddenly got a whiff of something and rolled her eyes. "Haven't I ever showed you how to change a diaper?"

Tails shook his head timidly, not wanting to invoke her wrath. _It's not really my job, either... _

Amy let out an exasperated sigh, annoyed to be pulled away from her wedding planning. This was a dream come true for her; why was everything getting in her way right now? Sure, she loved her kids, but still... couldn't she get just a_ tiny_ break from them? She was only going to get married to Sonic once, and wanted it to be the most romantic day of her life.

"Well, I'll show you _then_." Amy readjusted Sierra in her arms and then stood up. "Ugh, _men_, they make us do_ everything_... here, you hold Sierra, and follow me."

The hedgehog and fox exchanged babies, and then Amy went into the living room to lay a mat on the floor. Cream and Cheese were filling in a coloring book, and Vanilla was fiddling around with her new cell phone, trying to figure out how to text that sweet crocodile detective who had promised to help get her house up and running again.

"It's really simple, Tails," Amy said as she grabbed the materials and started peeling off Chase's diaper. "It's the same thing every time. If you can get over the fact that it's poop, it's really not a big deal."

Using her forearm, Amy wiped her stubborn bangs out of her way and then took a hold of Chase's feet, even though the boy was squirming like crazy. Tails was trying hard to pay attention to Amy, but he found his cyan eyes kept drifting over to where Cream was kneeling next to a coffee table, looking very pretty as she brought her violet crayon back and forth across the blank page. Cream's chocolate eyes looked so focused as she bit her soft lower lip, trying to decide which color to use next. It really was such a simple scene, but for some odd reason her face had Tails entranced and staring. The girl brought her small, gloved hand up to brush away her long, graceful ears in a delicate gesture, and then she reached for the orange crayon, courtesy of her chao.

"Thanks Cheese," Cream said sweetly and smiled.

"Tails, did you _catch_ that?" Amy suddenly demanded, and Tails's head snapped back in her direction immediately.

"Uh, huh, yeah..." Tails couldn't stop the pink from raising to his face.

"Good. It's something you're going to need to know how to do eventually..." Amy disposed of the old, soiled diaper and then followed where his gaze had been and gasped in remembrance.

"Oh, Cream, I've been meaning to ask you..." Amy said as she stood up and snuggled Chase closer to her body, just as the little boy gripped at her dress and cooed. "Would you like to be one of my bridesmaids?"

"Really Amy?" Cream's eyes got big. "I'd love to! Thanks!"

"Of course, Cream. You really are my best friend after all," Amy smiled and then looked over at Vanilla, who was still messing around with her phone. "Miss Vanilla?"

"Yes dear?" The older rabbit asked and looked up.

"Um, I want you to be my maid of honor... is that okay with you?"

Vanilla smiled. "I would truly be honored, Miss Amy. I do look forward to you and Mr. Sonic's wedding."

Amy let out a sigh of relief. Not that she thought Vanilla would say no, it was just good to have at least one thing decided. "Thanks." Amy looked back at Tails, and had to smile to see his eyes back on Cream.

"Hey Tails, I have a feeling Sonic's going to make you his best man."

"What - oh, he already asked me, and I said sure," Tails nodded.

"_Great_," Amy said with a smile. "Now, if we can only agree on a date... than I can start working on other things..." Amy started heading back to the computer, when Vanilla spoke again.

"Amy, I will tell you now that the shorter the notice the higher the price for most places," Vanilla explained.

"I know that," Amy said. "Which is why we can't have it in the fall like Sonic wants. I mean, he gives me a small _budget_ and then says, 'I want it in three months... but you can still do whatever you want'... _ugh_... I have to get back to work..."

Amy shuffled back to the computer and sat down, continuing to look through the flower pictures.

"What do you think, Chase? Are you a flower fan?"

Her son didn't answer with anything but a "Goooo ga," and instead wiggled around in her arms, and Amy ran her finger absentmindedly through his spines to try and calm him down.

"No huh? I guess I should look at the cakes then..." Amy clicked away and typed in the search terms with one hand. "Angel food... strawberry... buttercream... ganache..." she started muttering when a familiar voice broke her thoughts, and the girl was up in an instant.

...~...

"And how's my little princess today?" Sonic asked as he took his daughter from Tails and started swinging her around and playing with her.

Cute laughs escaped the girl as she enjoyed her father's love and silly faces that he was making down at her. Sonic found his own self laughing; there was nothing better than running around for a while and then getting to see his kids.

"Hey Sonic, three things," Amy suddenly appeared in the doorway and regarded her fiance.

He winced as he heard that tone. The first few days after he'd proposed, Amy had _only _wanted to snuggle and cuddle and kiss with him and do _nothing _else... and _now_ all she did was bombard him with a ton of questions when he so much as looked at her. The girl had been downright obsessed with her planning.

"Ames, you know I said I'd be cool with whatever you want to do," he said with a shrug.

Amy let out a frustrated sigh. Why was it that Sonic hardly seemed to care about anything having to do with the wedding? "But _Son-ic_, this is our wedding! I want us to plan it together, and I want it to be perfect; we're only going to be married once! Now c'mon, I need a day that you can stay home and watch Chase and Sierra while I go pick out my dress."

"I have every Sunday off, Ames-"

"I know, but hardly any bridal stores are open on Sunday."

"Aw, I'm sure there's at least one... you know I can't just take a day off randomly. They'll be an outrage if there's no mail bein' passed out."

"C'mon Sonic, this is im_por_tant. The ones that are open on Sunday are for only six hours... I don't know if that will be enough time for me... and I _need_ a wedding dress!" Amy insisted, a small scowl forming on her face.

Sonic sighed, knowing it was better to just give in then argue. After all, he wanted Amy to get the wedding that she wanted and deserved and dreamed about for so long. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. Now what're the other two things."

"A date," Amy insisted. "I need one. Because everyone that I've called asking about stuff has asked me for a date so they have some idea of how long they have and I have to tell them I don't know yet. Plus if I have a time then I can choose the colors and catering better."

Sonic sighed again. "Well, look, neither of us really wants a winter wedding, so don't we just have it in October?"

"Because that's not long enough!" Amy wailed. "These things take_ time_, Sonic. Now c'mon, let's just have it in April, please? Spring is the perfect season!"

"But that's so _long away_," he whined. "There is no reason to drag it out; planning doesn't take that long! Why don't we just get it _over with_," he muttered the last sentence under his breath.

"There is a reason, we need time to plan and order everything!" Amy hissed, wondering why Sonic just wasn't getting this whole thing. It was as if he knew absolutely_ nothing _about weddings. "C'mon, April isn't that far away... or maybe we could do it in March?"

"Hey!" Sonic snapped his fingers as an idea suddenly struck him. A grin grew up his muzzle and he chuckled. "What about _February,_ Ames?"

Amy crinkled her nose."February? That's still _winter_... and it'll be cold... I thought you said you didn't want that!"

Sonic ran a finger under his nose smugly. "Yes... but I think we could make do... on February_ fourteenth_... whaddya say?"

Amy's face lit up immediately, and her mood instantly flipped. "Valentine's _Day?_" the girl squealed and ended up giving Chase a very tight hug while she pinched her cheek with her other hand. Fortunately, the boy didn't cry. "Oh Sonic that is **_SOOO_** ROMANTIC~!"

"Heh, somehow... I just knew you'd say that..." Sonic said, and rolled his eyes a little as Amy raced over to squeeze and kiss him.

"That's perfect! A Valentine's Day wedding! And... and..." the wheels in her mind were turning at a pace that made Sonic proud. "We can have lots of_ roses_... and... everything be_ red_ and _pink_ and... silver. Yes! EEEP! Do you mind those colors Sonic?"

"Well, ya know red is my favorite color... and pink'll just be perfect for _you_..."

"YAY! Oh Sonic, I love you! Valentine's Day is soooo romantic! Oh, I have to make a _ton _of calls now..." the girl turned frantically to get back to the computer, but not before turning back to look at Sonic. "Now that we have the date, I'll try and get some invitations printed ASAP and then you can hand deliver them yourself, Mr. MailMan... oh, so much to doooo... bye Sonic, and thank you soooo much!" And with that, the girl blew her fiance a kiss and ran back to the computer, a very bewildered Chase the Hedgehog in tow.

"...glad I could be of service," Sonic joked, and then looked down at his daughter and a thought hit him. He really should be getting back to work, but...

"Ames! Mind if I take Sierra with me?" Sonic suddenly called out.

He waited a few seconds and got no answer, and so he turned back to the other's present, just now acknowledging them.

"It's okay, she might not even notice," Tails said honestly. "She's been holed up in there all day, without eating hardly anything. We've had to take care of the kids most of the day."

Sonic looked back towards the doorway she'd just run into. While it was true that he wanted her to have a memorable wedding, was she really over-exerting herself with this?

_Ah, don't be silly... Amy can handle this. She's in her element, she deserves it. And the kids'll be fine... I'll pick up the slack if need be._

"What're you gonna do, Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked him.

The father shrugged. "Nothin', really. I gotta get back to work. I'm sure Ames is gonna have a lot more for me to see when I get home, heh..." he started heading for the door, still holding Sierra. "You guys take care, and thanks... but make sure Ames gets something to eat, okay? And Chase, too."

"We will, Mr. Sonic," Vanilla said and looked up from her phone.

"Thanks, I'll be seein' ya...Alright Miss Sierra, are you ready to_ juice_?" Sonic looked down lovingly at his daughter as he cradled her close to himself, trying to get her into a comfortable position as he left the workshop.

She gripped her father's chest fur and looked up at him with wide jade eyes. "Baaa!" she exclaimed.

Sonic chuckled and felt his heart skip. "I'll take that as a yes. Hold on then honey... we're gonna go fast..."

With that rather mild warning, Sonic pushed off against the ground with his feet to continue on the mail route. Since they were on the northern edge of Central City, he didn't have to go far until the next mailbox, resulting in just a tiny burst of speed. Sonic stuffed the bills into the mailbox and then looked down at Sierra. The girl didn't seem to be having any adverse effects, and so Sonic continued to weave his way around Central City to distribute the mail. Once that was finished, Sonic started heading back towards the nearest post office to gather his next batch. But in order to do that, he would have to run a good 30 miles nonstop. Once again, Sierra still seemed fine, and so the hedgehog had no worries as he sped his pace up.

The surroundings, which before had been large, stationary buildings blurred together to form an indistinguishable palette of colors. Sonic felt a grin grow up his face as he felt the rush of air ruffle his quills and whistle in his ears. Really, running his heart out like this never, ever got old. He'd been doing it for nearly twenty years now... and still loved it. Sonic looked down at his daughter, hoping that she was taking this okay.

And then... a wild, happy giggle suddenly burst out of the infant's toothless mouth. Her jade eyes were still wide as ever as she took in the full running experience, clearly loving the whole thing. And if there was ever any doubt, Sonic was now certain that this was_ his _daughter.

"Miss Sierra, one day _you'll_ be running around like this," Sonic breathed down at her, a tender smile on his muzzle as he made his way back to the post office. "One day..."

...~... A/N ...~...

Yay, da plans are coming together, finally! Yes, Amy's going nuts with the planning... as would be expected, to the point where she's neglecting her kids a little... which is a bad thing. But hey, that's what friends and fiances are for, right?

I swear, I just got the idea of a Valentine's Day wedding a few days ago. But I honestly think it's super duper uber romantic and plus the timing was PERFECT. :3

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Go ahead and eat too much. ;)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, hopefully Chapter 11 won't take quite as long... it shouldn't, because I have it planned out and everything. :3


	11. Loose Ends

cookythefoxcat, JackleTheKitsune, Mana the Cat Magician, AutoKnight01, holospartoi258, poka, Tyranifex, Jonman14, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, Novus Umbra, 01sonamy01, SherryBlossom.

Chapter 11: Loose Ends

* * *

"I know, little guy, I know," Sonic whispered down to his son, who was wiggling around in his arms and clearly uncomfortable in the down-coat and corduroy-pants warming his small body. "But Amy wouldn't a let me outta the house without ya wearin'_ somethin'_ in this weather..."

Sonic stopped briefly to fill the passing snow-covered mailbox and then picked up the pace again, not wanting to halt for too long. For as long as he kept running, he wouldn't feel the frigid wind piercing his own unclothed body. Winter was by far his least favorite season, for a lot of reasons. One being that on his runs he had to watch out for black ice so he didn't fall on his butt. Another being that the cold air hurt his lungs... and he could go on and on. But still, the mail had to be delivered no matter what, and so he still had a job to do.

At least he could bring one of his kids along with him once a week now. His boss, Wheat, said he didn't mind, and it gave Amy a break from having both twins to take care of. The teen mother was slowly becoming a little less clingy with them as well, although Sonic had a feeling she would be overprotective of them all throughout their lives... it was just who Amy was. He just hoped that she wasn't becoming jealous of how much time he was spending with them now.

Chase started giggling as Sonic sped up - a noise that was music to the older hedgehog's ears. There were few things that he liked to hear more than his children laughing when he took them on a run. Both of them really seemed to love it, making Sonic think they'd both inherited that need for speed he had. This made him impatient and longing for the days when they could run and race him themselves, and do more than just the rather speedy crawling they could do now.

Finally finding himself at one of the special destinations, Sonic approached the door and rang the bell. He shifted his slight weight back and forth from his heels to his toes impatiently.

"C'mon, c'mon, I don't have all day," Sonic muttered under his breath as he felt the cold catch back up with him.

His left sneaker started tapping in a haphazard fashion as the hedgehog continued to wait. Normally he didn't do face to face deliveries, but this time it was special. Besides, Amy had she'd said she'd love for him to hand deliver all the wedding invitations. And once he'd gotten these passed out and they knew who all was coming, all that was left was the much-dreaded waiting. The planning was all but over with... well, everything except the honeymoon. Sonic had volunteered to select that destination, and had quite a _few_ places picked out for _that_.

A dark smile curved up his muzzle before Sonic was brought back to the present and decided that he was done waiting. If Rouge didn't want to answer the door to retrieve that blasted Chaos Emerald and her wedding invitation, so be it.

The next few zones passed without much ado, and then Sonic was back on his normal route. Next up he was going to visit his second best friend to let him in on the news, as after all… what was a wedding without a Knucklehead?

Arriving at the base of the frozen shrine holding the sacred Master Emerald, Sonic dug into his mail pack with his free hand to pull out a highly ornate card. He then looked up at the top of the shrine and almost dropped both the invitation and Chase. There, at the top, was the famous last echidna, yes… but also the even more famous batgirl thief. Now this was nothing new… except for the fact that they were both _laughing. _And actually not trying to kill each other this time.

Now this was too good to pass up.

"Hey guys," Sonic said with a cheeky grin on his muzzle as he made his way carefully up the icy steps.

The pair stopped conversing and looked at their visitor, and thanks to Sonic's speed he could make out a redness on their cheeks that couldn't be just from the nippy weather.

"Hey Big Blue... and Little Blue," Rouge greeted him and eyed Chase.

"Sonic," Knuckles nodded at him.

"Well, you two are in a good mood," Sonic teased them both before handing them each their invitations.

"Is that a crime?" Rouge raised an eyebrow at him before using her nail to open the envelope and peel out the card.

"Oh no, just sayin', yer not usually…" Sonic drifted off as he smiled down at Chase.

"Da-da..." the boy said determinedly and looked at his dad with huge emerald eyes. "Da-da!"

"Yep, I'm your Dada," Sonic tenderly said back to him, and had to smile that Chase was already calling him that.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was struggling to open the envelope, as his gloves didn't have fingers.

"Need some help there, Knuckie?" Rouge teased him, as she couldn't help but notice.

"_No_." The echidna scowled and turned away, a little embarrassed that he couldn't quite get it open. He tussled with the piece of paper for a few seconds before muttering, "Screw it," and then used his knuckles to slice the top part off, finally freeing the card to be opened.

Rouge watched his struggle and found herself holding back a laugh before she opened her own card and read it. Her aqua eyes got big as she saw the date and location.

"Valentine's Day, huh?" the bat shot Sonic a glance, who shrugged.

"Yeah, you know how Amy is. She's been goin' nuts with the plannin', hasn't she Chase?" Sonic brought his free hand up to tickle Chase's nose, and the boy sneezed. "You two gonna be there?"

"I guess I will," Knuckles said gruffly.

"How many others are going?" Rouge asked.

"Ah… we're tryin' ta keep it small, actually," Sonic admitted. "Mostly because it's gonna be expensive anyway on V-Day… so we're thinking 40 people, tops. Close friends, ya know."

"Small weddings are better," Knuckles agreed and shivered a little as the wind picked up.

Sonic followed suit and hopped from side to side to warm up, hoping that Chase didn't mind. "Yeah, it's more personal that way. But anyway, I can count on both of you two to be there…" he grinned. "Together?"

"Heck_ no_, I'll be there, but I'm goin' _alone_," Knuckles insisted and crossed his arms.

Rouge smirked and pulled closer, resting her gloved hand on his strong arm. "I think you'll change your mind in two months."

"And why would I go with _you _again?" The echidna immediately pulled away from her touch, not wanting to look like a wuss in front of Sonic.

"Because," Rouge said confidently and threw her head back. "I'm the only one who will make sure you don't go and make an idiot out of yourself… though that's a tough job even for_ me._"

Sonic rolled his eyes at their antics, but then remembered something. "Oh, Rouge, before I forget..." Sonic reached into his quills to produce that blasted purple Chaos Emerald he still owed her. "Sorry it took so long, I haven't had time to _breathe_ the past few months."

He casually tossed it at the bat, and she caught it and smirked. "Thanks darlin'... I was afraid you'd forgot."

Knuckles winced at Rouge's use of a term of affection, even though she meant nothing by it. He hated it when Rouge flirted with him, but he hated it even_ more _when she flirted with other guys... and he wasn't sure why.

"Well, I'll see you two later then, I gotta run," Sonic said and zipped off, deciding it was time to move on. He had one more delivery to make, and then all of the invitations would be out.

His next stop was a certain detective agency housing three of Sonic's most odd friends. And now that he'd thought about it, it'd been a long time since he'd caught up with the trio. Time was just going by so fast right now.

After jumping over an unplowed snowdrift, Sonic finally reached their door. He raised his hand to ring the bell, but couldn't find a switch... and ended up knocking to call one of them to open. But as soon as his gloved fist met wood... the whole door fell in and crashed to the floor, somehow still in tact.

"Dada?" Chase asked and cringed a little at the slam.

Sonic's eyes got huge as he realized what he just did. "..._whoops._.. don't know my own strength, heh..." the sheepish hedgie said and then raised his leafy green eyes up to meet Charmy's golden ones.

"Oh, it's just Sonic! ... Don't worry about the door, we're still waiting until payday 'til we fix it," the bee explained.

Espio appeared to take hold of the door and lift it back into place, sealing off the icy gust of air, as the hedgehog entered with a chuckle.

"_Alright_ then." He readjusted his grip on Chase, who was kicking against his stomach.

"Hey Sonic, what can we do for you?" Vector asked with a huge grin, showing off his pointy teeth. "Cute kid, by the way. You and Amy doing okay with the wedding stuff?"

"Heh, thanks, and yeah we are... speaking of that..." The hedgehog reached into his pack to retrieve three engraved invitations and handed one to each of the detectives. "I'm here to formally invite all three of you to Amy and my wedding, which'll be on Valentine's Day."

"Oh, we already knew it was on Valentine's Day," Vector said proudly and set his card down. "My keen detective skills were able to detect – "

"_Vanilla_ told him," Charmy butted in, smirking at his boss. "His _girlfriend_, hee hee..."

"Quiet Charmy," Vector hissed at him, his green scales turning pink.

"What we mean is… we're looking forward to attending," Espio said, used to his erratic colleagues by now.

"Great, so you guys can all make it?"

"Unless we get some work between now and then... we should be free," Vector said.

"What is the dress code?" Espio asked sensibly.

Sonic sighed. "Well_, I_ don't really mind either way... but Amy'll be pissed if you guys don't wear tuxes. Just sayin'..."

"We'd rather not deal with a pissed off Amy," Vector agreed.

"Is there going to be_ cake_ there?" Charmy asked, licking his lips at just the thought.

"Yep... Amy's already got the cake ordered... red velvet, I think," Sonic said.

"Oh boy!" Charmy gushed. "_Red velvet.._. yumm-y!"

"I've never had that kind before," Espio remarked.

"Yer missin' out," Sonic said. "Red velvet cake is amazing... but anyway, glad you guys are on board... I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys there. Now I gotta run, so see you all later..."

"Bye Sonic, take care... and thanks for the invitations!" Vector called out to him as Sonic disappeared into the cruel winter wind.

...~...

Finally, _finally_ all of the day's errands were done, and Sonic was able to head back home, and see his other half and other child. He was looking forward to not only that, but warming up in front of the fireplace and eating dinner. Today had been shockingly cold, and Sonic had spent most of it outside and without any clothes on... and it was beginning to catch up with him.

Using his own house key, Sonic entered his home to be greeted by his fiancee in the foyer, her peach-colored dress _covered_ in green and orange splotches of baby food.

"Sonic, you're _freezing_!" Amy gushed, noticing he was more blue than usual.

"I'm f-fine," Sonic lied through his chattering teeth.

"Oh, get_ in_ here," Amy insisted and dragged him into the living room and took the frozen infant from his arms. "Oh, _Chase_, my baby..." she cuddled up to him and kissed his head. "He's cold too, I'm glad that _he_ had clothes on anyway…"

Sonic shivered as he sat down in front of the blazing fire. "Aw, Chase is a champ, he's tough as nails, ya know that... hey Sierra," Sonic greeted his daughter, who was sitting in a high chair, her bib covered in baby food as well.

"Maybe, but you need to start leaving them home now that it's winter."

Amy draped a quilt around Sonic's shoulders and wrapped him in a warm hug with her one free arm. "There you go, Sonic..." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "...and next time I'm not letting _you_ out of the house without some clothes."

Sonic hid his smile into the warm red and yellow blanket. He would roll his eyes for his ego's sake, but Sonic secretly _adored_ it when Amy fussed over him this much. Especially if it meant she gave him something warm to eat. He snuggled into the blanket and let his eyes watch the dancing yellow and orange flames, inhaling the homely scent of burning wood.

"Aw, Ames, remember last time I tried to wear pants?" Sonic joked, rubbing his hands together, still shivering.

That made Amy smile in spite of herself. "Still, you're going to wear at least a jacket… Oh, what am I going to do with you..." Amy muttered and went off to get her son into some warm pajamas. "Oh... and keep an eye on Sierra so she doesn't choke on her spoon, okay?"

"Will do," Sonic agreed and turned to his daughter to give her a huge grin.

The girl returned it, showing off her two baby teeth and squealing.

Chase and Sierra were slowly being weaned off their mother's milk onto more solid food, though they were still going to nurse for a while. But feeding babies turned out to be a very messy endeavor, Sonic had found _that_ out the hard way. He'd had to spend an extra few minutes in the shower the past few days, scrubbing his fur to get the baby food out of it.

A minute later, Amy came back in with an azure hedgehog wrapped in green flannel pajamas in one hand and a plate full of chili dogs in the other.

"Oh, oh,_ oh…_" The extra saliva was already forming in Sonic's mouth as he stared at his favorite food, cooked to perfection by one of the best, all lined up in a symmetrical row on the blue plate.

"You're welcome, don't eat it too fast," Amy said, but realized that it was too late as Sonic started stuffing his face.

The girl rolled her eyes a little, but still smiled affectionately at her fiance. She loved all of his little quirks.

The gleam of her shiny engagement ring caught her eye as Amy turned back to her twins, and she let a smile crawl up her face in remembrance. "Since the planning for the wedding was now less hectic, Amy had really calmed down. Maybe she wasn't able to go all out like she'd always wanted to and have a huge party with hundreds of guest, but Amy had made do. She had tried to be optimistic through all of the hard choices and sacrifices she'd had to make. After all, if she was going to be married to Sonic, what else did she need?

The girl was still stoked for the wedding, of course, but now that most of the work was done, she was able to relax and just bask in the thought that she was going to be _married to Sonic_ soon. Oh, just two more months until the most romantic day (and night) of her life. But, back to the present. In the meantime, the twins were really keeping her on her toes, especially now that they were eating and crawling.

"Did you feed Chase today?" Amy asked Sonic, putting her son into his high chair.

"I did, gave him three bottles..." Sonic swallowed his last bite and then raced to the kitchen to put his plate away, eager to help. "So I guess he needs some solid food now, huh?"

"Well, if you can call this solid," Amy said and held up the jar of baby food.

"Here, Ames, I'll get him," Sonic took the jar and spoon from her. "I don't mind, really. You just finish up with Sierra."

"Okay, thanks. Are you sure you're okay, though? You were_ purple_ when you came in ten minutes ago."

"That was ten minutes ago, and those chili dogs, man... they're somethin' else... but anyway... are you ready to eat, buddy?" Sonic asked his son and started feeding him, carefully loading up the small spoon and sticking it gently in the infant's mouth.

After both twins were fed and cleaned up, the parents put them on the floor to crawl around and play.

"Aw, look, Ames, they're already racing." Sonic smiled proudly down at his children who were quickly crawling side by side.

Jumping off the couch, the father took a hold of one toy and brought it back and forth as Chase crawled over to him and touched the toy.

"Gaagoo!" Chase exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, they're both fast... and I have to watch them like a_ hawk_," Amy said and leaned back to stop and watch for a moment. "Today I left Sierra alone for one second to make a call... and the girl was_ gone_ when I got back. I freaked out, but she had just crawled into the next room. _Fast_, though."

"Looks like they both got some of my speed," Sonic grinned fondly. "I can't _wait_ until they can run."

Amy groaned a little. "I guess I'll be the slow one in the family... and_ still_ chasing. First you, and now our kids."

"Aw, it'll be fun, Ames. You can let me handle most of that, I'd love to. 'Bout time I started having some competition in the speed department... besides my fakers, of course."

"Of course," Amy agreed and smiled sweetly. "So... did you get all the invitations passed out today?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep, looks like pretty much everyone's coming. Some said they wanted to wait and see, but we got about thirty people committed now."

"Thirty... " Amy thought for a minute. "I think with that many guests I can still fit dinner into the budget you gave me."

"Really?" Sonic looked up. "You know, Ames, I'm really proud of you, keeping the price down pretty good, even though it's on V-Day."

"Well, I am a good shopper, and it's not like I've been planning this out for years or anything," Amy giggled and blushed a little. "Ah, I had fun, though... planning weddings is something I would do for _free_."

"Yeah..._ so _with all the planning done... does that mean that we can move the date up, to say... tomorrow?"

Amy shook her head. "Nope, Sonic, you are_ going_ to be patient. I know that you can do that for me. Besides, I'm not completely done, I still have some loose ends that I need to tie up...and all the waiting will make it that much sweeter once February Fourteenth finally does arrive, _right_?"

"... nah, I don't think the waiting will do anything but kill me, Ames. Why don't we just _elope_? We can take the kids with us and just run off an' -"

"Out of the question, we're having a true blue wedding, Sonic," Amy said firmly and finally came off the couch to kneel down with her kids, placing a hand on Sierra's quills. "I've been waiting for this for almost nine years, and you're not going to deprive me from it."

The blue hedgehog groaned but grinned and turned back to his kids. "Alright, Ames... whatever you want, girl. I just want to make you happy with all of this."

"Aw, thanks Sonic!" Amy leaned over and hugged him. "You really have. Thank you so much for all of this."

"My pleasure... I love you, Amy."

"Oh, I love you too, future husband."

...~... A/N ...~...

Yes, another filler chapter. I realize it was a tad boring and there wasn't much to it, but I thought skipping ahead to the wedding would be too fast. And I wanted to show the time spent waiting for the wedding and get others' reactions... as well as I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THE CHAOTIX IN PASSION!

It also allowed me to show another stage in the twins' development... they're now, about... 8 months or so... I've researched [human] baby development and I'm sorta playing off of that, although speeding it up a little, as I have a feeling anthropomorphic hedgehogs mature faster than humans do.

I'm trying to make the timing of this story make sense... right now it's early December, and most of the wedding planning is done. Chase and Sierra were born in late April-ish, and Sonic proposed in June... (if you count back 9 months, that would mean that Passion started in July of the previous year...) Oh, and I guess, considering Sonic and Amy's "canon birthdays" of June 23 and September 23, they would be 20 and 17 now, which isn't _all _that young to be marrying.

As for which twin inherited Sonic's speed... I've actually thought a little too much about that. ^^' At first I was gonna have just Sierra have his full speed and have Chase be normal (and have Sonic be a little disappointed that his son didn't turn out just like him, as 9 times out of 10 your kids don't turn out how you want them to.), but then I decided that wasn't likely for one twin to get his whole power and the other get nothing... (even if they are fraternal). And I liked the thought of two toddlers that are zipping around everywhere (poor Amy)! But hey, there's never gonna be another Sonic the Hedgehog... even his own children are gonna be slower than him because they have Amy's genes.

Plus, there's the whole question of how Sonic got to be so fast himself... in the games canon, we don't have a backstory. Is it pure genetics (Was it some rarely beneficial mutation? I think that's it... but it's still very complicated...) or is it also because he's in incredible shape from so much practice? I dunno, Biology is a subject that I've always hated and never paid attention in (though in hindsight I should've as I'm gonna have to take it again, but when you're thirteen years old, as I was when I took it, you hardly care about school most of the time... yes?)... either way, both twins have super speed to some extent, and one may be faster than the other, but they're both slower than Sonic... at least for now...

Gah, I just ranted my keyboard off...


	12. Tying the Knot

Tyranifex, bk00, Jonman14, JackleTheKitsune, cookythefoxcat, poka, Sonamyluver718, SherryBlossom, Mana the Cat Magician, AutoKnight01, GodsSonicGirl, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, Trinita, Delta2-1, 01sonamy01, SkulY2K, Novus Umbra, Jazz Star The Hedgehog, holospartoi258, TrumpetGirl818:

*thinks* I actually have nothing to say... oh, except sorry for the wait. I've been busy (work and final exams... :P ) and... well... it's just awful hard to write when you have to stop every ten words because you're fangirling... *giggles*

Chapter 12: Tying the Knot

* * *

The morning of February 14th dawned bright and clear, as the sun had unrestricted access to the blanket of silvery snow smothering the uneven landscape. Clumps of frozen water clung to the needles of the fir and pine trees covering Crystal Mountain. A wooden wedding chapel nestled in said woods was all but snowed in, but all of the guests for the day's big event had stayed in a nearby hotel, making any outside travel time limited.

_Everything is covered in snow, all shiny and white..._ Amy's thoughts passed through her mind as her green eyes drifted out the side window, feasting on the breathtaking scene. _It's so romantic... oh, everything is going to be just so perfect today...  
_

The bride sighed happily, and then she turned her gaze back down to the delicate dress hugging her figure, just now noticing how the pure white color and shimmers of the silky fabric matched the snow outside. Giggles escaped her at the thought.

"What is it, Amy dear?" Vanilla, who was trying to tame Amy's crazy quills, asked as the bride wiggled from her laughter.

"Oh, just thinking..." Amy said and brought a gloved hand up to her mouth to try and stop tittering. "I... I can't believe that I'm going to be married to _Sonic_ in an**_ hour_**. _Ooooh_~!" the girl danced from side to side in her seat from giddiness.

Cream handed her mother a rose to stick in Amy's new quill-do. "It's exciting, isn't it?"

"...exciting doesn't even come_ close_." Amy said and giggled again, revealing her pure white teeth. "I'm way _past_ excited, Cream."

The rabbit smiled at her best friend. "I'm so happy for you, Amy. You've dreamed about this for so long, and now it's coming true."

"_I know!_" the pink hedgehog exclaimed and almost leaped from her chair, only to be seated again thanks to Vanilla's patient hands.

Amy glanced into the mirror in front of her and for one of the first times in her 17 years of existence, felt happy with her appearance. What most would consider her best feature, her dazzling emerald green orbs, stood out against her strawberries and cream complexion, and would only get bolder once she put on makeup. But right now, her unruly quills were being dealt with by Vanilla's dexterous fingers. Amy's bangs were clipped to the side by a rose-jeweled barrette and headband, which also held a gossamer veil draping down to her ankles. Her bubblegum quills underneath the veil had been cut back to her old shoulder-length style, however.

"We'll see how long those stay in place," Amy said hopefully, referring to her bang-quills. "Usually I can't get them to do anything, and they just keep popping up."

"They should be fine, dear," Vanilla assured her and smiled kindly. "I used some products that are sure to hold them in place. That along with the headband, you should be fine."

"I hope... " Amy mused for a second, but then grinned again cheerfully. "I guess it doesn't matter, though."

"Why did you get your quills cut, again?" Cream asked as she ran her hand through Sierra's own quills. "I liked them longer better."

Amy smiled wider. "Well, apparently way back when, hedgehog brides used to get their quills clipped very short for their wedding day, almost completely off, to show that they were now dependent on their husband to protect them. Normally it's not done anymore, but I wanted to honor that tradition. But oh, you should have seen the _look_ on Sonic's face when I told him... he was all like, 'there's_ no way_ you're chopping off your quills, Amy...' " Another giddy noise escaped her as she pictured Sonic's cute face trying to be stern. "But when I told him just shoulder length, he was fine with it. Said he liked it that length better, actually... and... well..." more pink came to Amy's face.

"That's actually why I always wore them so short when I was younger... in case Sonic proposed to me, I would be ready to be married _that day," _Amy confessed, but giggled at her younger self. "Oh, I was so crazy back then."

"Back then?" Cream teased.

"Cream!" Vanilla scolded her daughter.

"No, she's right, I haven't changed all that much." Amy's eyes drifted over to her daughter. "I've just... grown up some is all. But I'm still Amy Rose..." She grinned again. "Soon to be, the _Hedgehog_~!"

"Maaaaamama," Sierra suddenly gurgled at her mother. "Maaaammaaa!"

The little lavender hedgehog, who was dressed in a miniature version of the matching ruby red dresses the rabbits wore, wiggled in Cream's arms and reached to touch Amy's veil.

"Aw, Sierra, how does Mommy look? Does she look pretty?" Amy asked as she turned to her daughter. "Do you know what's happening to Mommy today?"

"Weddie!" Sierra screamed in joy.

"Yes honey... mommy and daddy are getting married," Amy leaned over to kiss her baby girl. "And you get to be in a wedding when you're ten months old! Teehee, then you get to stay with Aunt Cream and Vanilla and Uncle Tails for a week."

The bride cuddled up and played with Sierra for a few minutes, enjoying what would probably be some of the last moments she'd get to spend with her daughter until after her and Sonic got back from the honeymoon.

"Alright, honey, Mommy's got to put her makeup on and look all pretty," Amy explained and handed the baby back to Cream. "Do you have the ring?"

Cream nodded. "Mmm-hmmm, don't worry, everything's going to work out perfectly."

"I know, I'm so _excited_," Amy agreed and leaned back in her seat, fighting off a wave of hyper butterflies in her stomach as Vanilla helped her apply makeup.

...~...

One good thing about wearing a tux, Sonic discovered, was that he only had to wear a bowtie and not a normal tie, which saved his neck a little. One bad thing... well, he could be here all day. But the cobalt hedgehog had other things to worry about on this morning, as he zipped around the foyer of the wedding chapel, making sure everything was going okay. Guests were still arriving and warming up by the fireplace, and the last few decorations had to be put up in the sanctuary before the ceremony could begin.

Everywhere Sonic looked, he saw red and pink, whether it be roses and tulips, streamers and decorations, or the scrumptious looking cake... but he didn't mind. Red was a favorite of his, as the color was flashy and fast and bold and exciting, and pink... well, pink was_ Amy_ to him, the girl he was in love with. And right now, she was probably getting all pretty and dressed up for the ceremony in... he checked the old grandfather clock in the corner... about an hour. Oh boy...

"Hey Knux, everything okay?" Sonic stopped to ask the echidna, once he was free from greeting the next guest who'd arrived.

"Everything's alright on my front," Knuckles nodded.

"So you're alright with me upping your role? You know how Amy is about being a perfectionist..." Sonic smiled.

"It's not like I have to do much." Knuckles said, and then found his attention stolen by a certain gorgeous bat headed his way... flanked by the only other echidna in this dimension._ Oh crap, not those two...  
_

"Great, thanks man. I knew I could count on you," Sonic patted him hard on the back before he noticed some of his old friends. "Silver and Blaze! So glad you two could make it!" Sonic exclaimed as the hedgehog and cat couple entered the hall.

Blaze had donned a golden chiffon dress that matched her eyes, Silver had on an oddly styled suit that indicated he obviously wasn't from this dimension. But Sonic was still glad that they were here; he hadn't seen either of them in_ years_, at least.

"Hey, it's great to see you! We really should get over here more." Silver said and shook Sonic's hand.

"We usually don't have time, but a wedding is too important to neglect," Blaze nodded and took in the surroundings. "I believe your customs are different over here... but congratulations, either way."

"Aw, thanks guys," Sonic blushed a little, but grinned.

"You seem pretty loose," Silver noted.

"Really?" Sonic frowned a little. "I don't_ feel_ loose, I'm pretty jittery, actually... Heh.."

"There's no need to be nervous," Tails said as he suddenly came up behind Sonic and put a free hand on his big brother's shoulder. The other arm was wrapped around Chase, who was also (cutely) dressed to the nines.

"Is this your son?" Silver asked, his golden eyes huge as he noted the resemblance.

"Oh, you guys haven't seen him yet? Yeah, this is Chase," Sonic said and ruffled his son's quills. "I know, I know, he looks like me. Sierra is in with Amy and the girls getting ready. The twins and Tails and Cream are the 'aww' factor today," Sonic joked, only to have Tails glare at him.

"He's cute," Silver said and reached to touch Chase's head.

An odd smile came over Blaze's face. "Yes... though I'm sure _we_ could top that one day, Silver," she said and closed her eyes.

Sonic chuckled, knowing what she was referring to, but Silver looked bewildered for a minute. "Wait... _what?_" His whole face turned pink in sudden realization.

"So naive," Blaze muttered and then pulled her 'best friend' off towards another part of the guest hall.

Before Sonic could make another lap around to make sure everything was okay, yet another hand found its way to his now-popular shoulder.

"Good morning Sonic, is everything going okay so far?" The minister, a burnt-orange hedgehog named Kurt, asked the groom.

"Morning, and yeah, so far so good," Sonic nodded, and had to hop from side to side to burn off some anxiety.

"Are you nervous?" Kurt smiled so that it reached his kind-looking brown eyes.

"Naw, I'm always this jittery," Sonic admitted and tried to hold still to no avail. "Though Amy made me nervous the moment I first met her... and and I didn't like that one bit... and now... _yeah_, guess I am. More than ever."

"You shouldn't be, everything will turn out fine," the minister reassured him.

"Sonic, will you hold him for just a minute?" Tails suddenly asked, referring to Chase. "I need to check to see if all the guests are here yet."

"Sure thing... c'mere little guy," Sonic extended his arms to take hold of the infant, and Tails ran off to survey the list.

Chase let out a small yelp, but as soon as Sonic patted his back a few times and reinserted the pacifier, the little boy calmed down.

"He doesn't like dressing up, I don't think," Sonic remarked.

"He's probably not used to this many strangers, either. I'm sure that you get this a lot, but he looks exactly like you," Kurt noted as he looked from father to son.

Sonic smiled proudly. "Yeah, he does look like his daddy, doesn't he?"

"He sure does. Though I must say, I'm not used to marrying young couples that already have children," he remarked casually, and then realized what he'd just said as Sonic's expression twinged on annoyance for a second.

Sonic then shrugged, for he'd gotten used to that reaction from_ some_ people. "Yeah, well, ya know... thanks anyway. We did get turned down by a minister one time, once the guy found out we already had kids. Amy was pretty upset, but whatever. His loss."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Kurt said. "To tell the truth, I was a bit reluctant at first, but I realized that marriage is never something one should shun or refuse, and what is in the past is done. And considering Who and what I represent... I knew that binding you two together would be the best thing right now. I feel blessed with this honor. And I'm very glad that you two are doing the right thing."

Sonic grinned, already liking this guy, and glad that they'd picked him. "Well that's good, thanks. I do appreciate it."

"You're very welcome, Sonic. Is there anything you need from me before the ceremony begins?"

"Uh, well... I think I'm good, but I'll come find you if I do."

"Alright, then, be ready in a few minutes," Kurt nodded and walked away.

Sonic nodded back, but as soon as the minister disappeared into the crowd... he felt a sudden bout of uneasiness flood his heart, as now he was alone with just his son in his arms. Oh man oh man oh man... today was his _weddin_g day. Today he was giving up the thing that he had valued more than anything for his whole life, what he had fought for and clung to with all of his time and energy and will. Today... he was going to be forever bound to Amy Rose. Sonic was going to become a husband. He gulped and looked down at the oblivious kid, and a sudden butterfly attack in his stomach fueled him to rush over to find Tails again, if just to be distracted from his thoughts.

The fox was leaning against a podium and the guest book, biting his lip as he surveyed the crowd, trying to tally up everyone.

"Everyone here?" Sonic asked and handed off Chase again.

"Yep, looks like it," Tails said. "That's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

Sonic nodded, but his expression was vacant. "Um, Tails, I need a quick breather, I'll be back-"

The cobalt hedgehog was about to rush off again when Tails grabbed his arm.

"You're going to tear your pants," the fox warned him.

"Aaargh, I know, but I... I gotta burn off all this energy... I'm dyin' here..." Sonic let his usual outer-cool mask slip off to show his inner panic, reflected in his jumpy jade eyes.

Tails gasped as his older brother pulled from his grip. "Sonic, you need to_ calm down_." He suddenly wished his namesakes weren't all tangled up in his slacks so he could chase after him if need be.

"Urgh, how can I?" Sonic was a bundle of nerves at this point. He started pacing a little, up and down the hall, not noticing that some of the guests were staring.

_"Sonic,"_ Tails pleaded.

_"Uh,_ I'll be back," he said and zoomed off, creating a sonic boom that shook the whole chapel.

This, of course, made everyone pause and stare, turning their attention to Tails. The fox turned red at all the eyes on him.

Some of the guests started muttering, "He didn't just ditch his wedding and change his mind, did he?"

"No!" Tails assured, trying to do damage control. "He's... just being Sonic, I'll go talk to him."

And with that, Tails started running after the erratic hedgehog, hoping he was right.

Sonic burst out of the stuffy chapel and inhaled a lungful of fresh yet frigid air. The coldness shocked his lungs, and he coughed a few times. But the violent exhales did nothing to calm his rapidly pumping heart, and his instincts were screaming at him to run and get the heck out of there.

... but he couldn't. The chapel was surrounded by snow and ice, and he was wearing slacks and dress shoes, which wasn't running attire.

He was trapped. _This_ was what being married would do to him.

_Oh jeez, oh jeez, bad idea... I knew that there was a reason I always ran from this..._ panic started to grip him, speeding up his already quick breaths._ I can't go through with this...I can't..._

"Sonic, don't run!" Tails' voice pierced the cold air, and Sonic turned to his little bro.

Upon turning, he also noticed the little hedgehog leaning against his uncle's shoulder. And as Sonic's eyes met his son's emerald orbs that were so familiar, suddenly something in his heart stirred, slowing down the organ just a little bit.

_How can I leave him and his sister... not to mention Amy herself? How can I leave... the only girl I've ever truly loved, and our family we've created together? ... **That **is what I can't do..._

"Are you alright?" Tails asked a little timidly as he approached the hedgehog.

Sonic wordlessly reached over to touch his son, and a gentle smile came over his face as the boy wrapped his tiny fingers around Sonic's larger index one. ..._ this is where I'm meant to be... there is nothing that I want more than this...  
_

"Dada gooo?" Chase asked innocently.

"No, Chase..." Sonic finally said. "Dada's not going anywhere. He's going to marry your mother... because... " he suddenly became aware of a gentle pressure behind his eyes and he had to make his expression firm. _Aw, man, I'm goin' soft._.. "Because he loves you and Sierra and Amy too much to leave them."

Tails let out a sigh of relief, but shivered. "Whew, I was afraid for a minute. Now can we go back inside? The ceremony is going to start in like, 10 minutes... not to mention it's freezing out here."

"Yeah, let's..." Sonic let go of Chase and headed back inside. "You got the ring?"

"Yep."

"Awesome, now let's go_ do_ this, huh?" Sonic let a grin crawl up his face in anticipation of going to face his fears. These thrills were really what he lived for... and this was just a new one he was going to conquer.

...~...

A soothing blend of string and wind instruments filled the sanctuary just as the last guest took his seat. The groom and minister were the first to make their way up the aisle before finally finding their places by the altar at the front. Sonic couldn't help but fidget and fiddle with the single rose on his boutonniere, as sitting still had never been a strength of his... and that was under _ordinary, _non-nervewracking circumstances.

He took a deep breath as the music continued to play and Knuckles made his way up the aisle, escorting Vanilla. Amy had decided that they needed another groomsmen so that Vanilla wouldn't be just awkwardly off to one side. Speaking of the rabbit, she looked at least ten years younger in the shimmering red dress covering her motherly figure. If Sonic would have been paying attention to the crowd, he would've noticed that a certain bat and crocodile were looking at the pair, each with a hint of jealousy.

In the back of the hall, as the ceremonial music continued to play and Knuckles and Vanilla left, Tails was sweating bullets. In one arm sat Chase the Hedgehog, chewing on a pacifier, and in the other was a white-gold wedding ring. Yes, two extremely important objects were to be in his care for the next half hour or so. He was hoping he could handle it.

"I'm afraid I might drop something," he muttered under his breath nervously.

"You won't, you've always been really great with your hands," Cream encouraged him with a sweet smile.

Tails looked up, just now remembering that she was here as well. The little rabbit (who suddenly wasn't so little anymore) looked beautiful in her flattering bridesmaid dress and hints of makeup on her light features. He couldn't help but blush and look away again, but before he could even say thanks, he suddenly felt two small, delicate lips press gently against his whiskers.

_Did she just... kiss me?_

"For good luck," Cream said and giggled at Tails' blush that now matched his bowtie.

Now Tails was even more nervous and his cyan eyes grew large. Luckily, he didn't have time to respond, as it was their turn to walk up the aisle and take their places at the front of the chapel.

Tails and Cream walked side by side, holding Chase and Sierra respectively on their outer arms, and each holding a wedding ring on the inside. Most of the guests "Awwww"-ed at the twins and preteens as they completed their march. Tails took his place between Sonic and Knuckles, and Cream went to stand by her mother.

Now there was just one empty space by the altar, begging to be filled. Sonic tensed up as he realized who was coming next, and his jade eyes were drawn to the back door in eager anticipation.

The music changed from it's soothing tones to slightly more upbeat ones, signifying the bride's entrance. Everyone was turned around in their seats, facing the back door and hoping to get a glimpse of beautiful Amy as she entered under the elaborately-latticed archway.

And then... there she was.

Sonic felt his heart catch in his throat as his eyes rested on Amy for the first time that day, looking absolutely stunning. Her gown was a pure ivory white, save for a few silver, red, and pink accents attached to the hem. The sequin-and-lace covered bodice fit her petite figure perfectly, accenting all of her light curves in just the right places. Her pink shoulders and collar bone were completely revealed save for an elaborate silver and ruby necklace that adorned her neck, and the veil that fell behind her clipped quills, landing around her ankles. The bodice gave way to her long, full silky skirt that had five distinct layers of ruffles and pure white, rose-shaped accessories that matched the real, deep red ones Amy held in her hand as a bouquet.

Amy was beautiful. Sonic wouldn't change a thing about her. _And she's going to be my wife... _His lips, which had before held a tender, loving smile, parted to reveal Sonic's trademark grin.

As Amy walked up the aisle, adorned like she had never been in her life, she suddenly became conscious of how easily her eyes teared up. But she just couldn't help it... it just felt so _surreal_ that she was finally getting married. Oh, how often had she sat on a rainy day and pictured herself doing just this...? It didn't matter anymore. Because her dreams had finally became reality. With each step she took, the more Amy's smile grew, the more her heart pounded, and the more happy-tears formed in the corners of her emerald hued eyes.

And the lucky guy?

He was standing up by the altar (**_waiting_** for_ her)_, wearing a sharp looking tux and that silly Sonic grin that had captured her heart nine years ago... and even now made it flutter. His gorgeous jade eyes were gleaming until one of them winked at her, causing Amy's heart to melt all over again. This man had so much power over her... just a simple wink, even today, could make her knees weak. Oh, he was so handsome, so strong, so kind... Amy loved him. She loved him from the tip of his ears and quills, through his heart, all the way down to his speedy legs and feet. This was her love... her husband... her Sonic.

Somehow, Amy completed the walk up the aisle and had finally made her way up to Sonic. She turned to face him head on, raising her hands for him to take... but Sonic instead reached past her gloves to go directly for her moist face.

"Aw, Ames, I did this so you _wouldn't_ cry anymore..." he said and gently wiped at her cheeks, even knowing that more happy-tears were to come.

"I can't help it, I'm just so happy..." Amy said, while sniffing and giggling nervously.

Sonic followed suit. "I am too, Ames. I am, too."

He then took her smaller, delicate hands in his bigger and stronger ones. Amy shivered a little at his touch, but let their fingers finally intertwine, just as Kurt began his speech.

The couple hardly heard a word that the minister said on the importance of marriage and love, as they'd gotten lost in the other's eyes. The two hedgehogs were just completely entranced by the other, so that everything around them... the chapel, the guests, their friends, the snow, the decorations... it all just faded. And it was only the bride and groom before the altar, clasping hands, Amy softly crying, Sonic still grinning... both of them finally going through with this, pledging to love the other for the rest of their life... no matter what.

"... and this is why we have gathered here, to witness the tying of the marriage knot between these two hedgehogs. Because of their everlasting love, they will promise to cherish and care for the other, in good and bad times, for all of eternity. And they are here to make those binding vows today."

Kurt paused from his speech and surveyed the couple. He had married hundreds of couples, and he'd never seen such devotion between the two partners before, shown by just the way they looked at each other so lovingly. Their love was evident, almost tangible. He turned to the groom.

"Sonic the Hedgehog..."

The man in question reluctantly turned from his heart-achingly beautiful bride to look at Kurt.

"Do you take this woman, Amy Rose, as your wife? To cherish and love, to serve and protect, to have and to hold, forsaking all others, for as long as you two shall live?"

Sonic turned back to his bride and grinned at her, squeezing her hands gently. "I do. I promise to give myself to you completely, and to love you always, Amy. I will never leave you, or our children, ever again. I will_ always_ be by your side to love and comfort you."

Amy had to smile at his heart-felt words and wanted to pinch herself... _this is really happening, isn't it...? _

"Amy Rose..."

The girl turned from her man's tender gaze to the minister.

"Do you take this man, Sonic the Hedgehog, as your husband? To cherish and love, to serve and protect, to have and to hold, forsaking all others, for as long as you two shall live?"

Amy's resulting grin could melt the icicles outside as she turned back to Sonic. "I _do_. I promise to love you with all of my heart, all of my soul, and all that I am. I give you all of myself, Sonic, to love and have. I promise to always take care of you and our present and future children from now and forever."

Both of them blushed at this.

"As you two have spoken and bound yourself to the other, may the vows never be broken," Kurt continued, and then looked at the others standing by the altar, giving the cue.

Tails and Cream stepped forward and extended the rings, which the burnt-orange hedgehog took and held up one in each hand.

"As a ring has no end, may your love for each other have no end. And as these rings encircle your fingers, may they remind you of your commitments made today and that you are surrounded by an enduring, promised love..."

Kurt took both hedgehog's hands and simultaneously slipped the rings on.

"I now pronounce you Hedgehog and Wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Sonic didn't waste any time, and took hold of the back of Amy's head, and pulled her into a deep, wet, and yet loving kiss. Amy leaned backwards a little as Sonic held her strongly yet gently, his lips caressing hers as his tongue playfully licked her own.

Kurt turned to the crowd just as Sonic and Amy parted and then followed suit, giddily holding hands and laughing. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present... Mr. and Mrs. Sonic the Hedgehog."

The crowd let out a cheer, and Sonic felt a sharp pain in his hand as Amy started squeezing off his circulation.

"Oh _Sonic..." _she squealed and turned to him, her emerald eyes wide and wet.

"Are you happy, Amy?" Sonic asked as he turned to his wife... woah, his _what?_ ...yep. This girl was now all his.

_Dang._

"Oh, Sonic, I really really couldn't be_ happier_," Amy gushed and let out a happy-sob as she clutched onto her _husband._

The music started back up again, and Sonic and Amy took hands and made their way down the aisle, grinning, laughing, and regarding the crowd now as a married couple.

"Can we _go_ now?" Sonic teased Amy as they left the sanctuary and headed for the nearby inn where the reception and party would be held.

"Oh don't be silly! We have the reception, you know that..." the girl scolded him. Sonic would have whined again, if Amy hadn't continued. "We still have to dance and cut into that cake, you know..."

"Oh, alright, I'll stay... but just for the cake," he joked, making Amy giggle... which had been his goal all along.

Tails and Cream, with the twins still on their hips, followed after the couple and met up with them in the large party room.

Upon seeing his children and siblings again, Sonic was brought back down to earth from the heavenly cloud he'd been flying on with his angelic bride. "They were really good," he remarked about the twins.

"I know, it was a miracle," Tails said, but still smiled. "Sooo, congratz you two..."

"Aw, thanks," Sonic said and squeezed Amy's hand as he turned to the girl. "It was all for this beautiful girl here."

"Aw, Sonic..." a crimson blush covered her peach muzzle, just as Knuckles, Vanilla, and the first guests started pouring in.

"You blush too easily," he whispered and brought his free hand up to caress her warm face.

"It's your fault for being so cute, funny, and irresistible," Amy teased back, but leaned against Sonic's gloved hand, loving the feel of him touching her.

"I try, I try..." Sonic said, and they burst into giddy laughter again before turning to greet each of their guests in turn.

...~...

The pictures were all taken and retaken, the guests were all tired from dancing, the dinner had been served, the red velvet cake was all but gone (Vector, Charmy, and Big were only on their second slice), and Sonic was starting to get restless... okay, maybe he wasn't _starting_. He'd been restless since he'd proposed 9 months ago... heck, Sonic had been restless since he was_ born_. But now as the evening and party wore on, his impatience was becoming overwhelming.

"You ready to get out of here?" Sonic whispered down at Amy, who was tenderly leaning against his chest in a back corner of the dance hall.

Amy looked up from where Rouge was trying to coerce Knuckles into a dance and smiled a little seductively, though more butterflies filled her stomach at the thought.

"Alright, let's say goodbye to everybody..." she said and started to stand up.

"No, let's go quietly... otherwise they won't _let_ us leave," Sonic pointed out.

"What about Chase and Sierra...?"

"They'll be fine, we already played and danced with them earlier, didn't we?" Sonic insisted and gathered his wife in his arms, sneaking her to a back corner where he had stored his 'getaway shoes.' The classic red trainers were decorated with 'Just Married' on the back of them in bold white letters.

Amy felt heat come to her face as Sonic randomly dropped his pants.

"Not gonna need these when I'm running," he said casually, then chuckled when he saw Amy's blush. "You ain't seen _nothing_ yet..." he winked and then pulled her into a deep kiss.

Amy felt herself gasp a little as Sonic's strong lips brushed against hers and he pulled her close, one hand around her back, the other all the way down at her tail. An avalanche of desires bloomed and matured as Sonic's hands roamed just a little around her body. She gasped again at the sensations, and then pulled away a little to look into his lime shaded eyes.

"Let's go..." Amy breathed and then hoisted the duffel bag she had stuffed full of things for their honeymoon.

"Oh, c'mon, do you really need all that?" Sonic whined in another whisper as he looked over the bag. "Not like yer gonna need a ton of clothes..."_ If any..._

"A girl has her needs... and you still haven't told me where, so I didn't know what all to pack." Amy insisted.

"Alright fine, let's just get outta here..." Sonic gave in and then cradled Amy bridal style before zipping out into the snow.

They ran. Sonic zoomed across the world, free as he'd ever been, leaving everything else behind, so he just had his wife in his arms, clutching onto him and nuzzling softly against his face.

He kept on running, even as the landscape turned from snow-covered and frozen, to the warmer colors of autumn leaves, to finally bright green and mild temperatures. But no matter how many times Amy implored him to tell her where they were going, she got nothing but Sonic's grin... so she eventually gave up asking and just enjoyed the view, the rush... and the anticipation of what was to come.

Eventually, the hedgie started reducing his speed, so that Amy could make out where they were. At first it appeared that Sonic had brought her to just a simple forest... but then she heard the crashing of falling water, and she gasped in realization. Sonic made his way around the bend, just as the setting sun painted the waterfall in the clearing a beautiful palette of blue and pink. The girl smiled at the sight, and then looked around to spot a small cottage a few hundred feet away.

"This is where we're gonna stay?" Amy asked giddily as her and Sonic entered the cottage.

The couple explored all the amenities and ended up in the bedroom. Amy threw her bag on the floor, semi-awkwardly.

"Just for tonight and tomorrow. I figured every day we could go somewhere new... ta keep it fresh," Sonic explained and shifted his weight nervously.

"Oh, Sonic, you're so_ thoughtfu_l!" the girl gushed and then crushed Sonic into her patented tight hug.

Amy wrapped her arms strongly around Sonic, squeezing him close as she nuzzled into him before heading for his lips. Sonic accepted her affection gladly for a moment before starting to return it with his own passionate kisses and loving hands.

He was ready to take his bride.

"Amy..." he purred her name once their lips broke, causing a pleasant sensation down the girl's spine at his husky voice. She felt Sonic's fingers come to rest on the lone zipper holding her dress up, but he didn't move it, and instead looked deeply into her eyes. He needed confirmation. "... Are you_ ready _for this?"

Amy's heart was touched to think he would ask that, even now. But her sentimentality went away quickly, as she took hold of Sonic's quills to pull his lips into her own pair. She deepened the kiss, pushing her tongue into his mouth and wrestling with his, deeper and stronger than she'd ever gone before. She moaned sensually into his mouth as she pushed and offered herself to him without any more reservations, wrapping her legs around his. Amy relished the feeling of his body matching against hers, and longed to feel it fully, with nothing more between them.

Amy finally pulled back, once her lungs had started burning for air. Pants escaped her as Amy fully enjoyed Sonic's stunned but delighted and eager expression.

"The_ real _question is..." she began as she pulled off his bowtie, threw it to the floor, and started undoing his buttons. "Are _you_ ready for Amy Rose the Hedgehog?"

"I can't _wait_ to find out," Sonic purred before pulling Amy's seductive smile against his own.

And then, once again... but this time without fear, shame, or coercion... and with only passion, devotion, and true love ... they were one flesh.

...~...

...~... The End ...~...

...~...

And now we have come full circle with both this story and Passion..._ what? _Don't look at me like that! At first I_ vehemently** didn't**_ want to end it with them having sex... but then I, well I... changed my mind. There is nothing more beautiful than sex, if done in the right context, methinks... ^^

Aw, man, the end... really? I must say, I loved writing this story. I dunno if it's one of my best or favorites, but it's up there, considering this chapter, and chapter 9. Good stuff, good stuff...

But don't fear, we're not leaving Sierra and Chase (as well as a married Sonic and Amy) off forever now to ride into the sunset. I do have a spinoff to this story already planned, but it won't be the next thing I write... and the main couple will _not_ be SonAmy. *gasp* I know, me writing a story that's not mainly SonAmy... It will have them in it, to be sure, but they'll be minor compared to... well, whoever the main couple will be. A hint, they were in this story, an awful lot... but it's not Knuckles and Rouge... and it won't be all that FAR in the future...

But anyway, that's for... whenever I get to it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter... the whole thing about Amy's quills being short, I totally made up, but I can see her doing that, teehee..

So another story ends, and of course I have lots more planned, so you all shouldn't be fretting... just check out my profile for my plans.

Thanks for all of your support, everyone! Catch ya on the flip side, guys and gals...

~SilverDawn~


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